The White Chief of the Ottawa

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The White Chief
of the Ottawa

... By ...

Bertha Wright Carr-H arris

With seven full-page illustrations
by John fnnes

TORONTO

WILLIAM BRIGGS
1903

Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year
one thousand nine hundred and three, by BERTHA WRIGHT CARR-
HAKKIS, at the Department of Agriculture.

PREFACE.

"THE White Chief of the Ottawa" is not fiction.
It is not a tale with a carefully concealed plot,
meant to delude the reader at the beginning and
to surprise him at the end. It is something
stranger than fiction, a sketch of the life experi-
ences of Philemon Wright and his family, the
first settlers in the district of Ottawa. With
the exception of the love of Abbie and Chrissy,
which are based upon fact, the story is mainly a
simple recital of actual facts which cannot be
controverted.

The writer is indebted to the following for
furnishing valuable data :

Diary and letters of Philemon Wright, 1 806-
1816.

Bouchette's Topographical Report.

" Travels in the North " — Sir Alexander Mac-
kenzie, 1803.

iii

Preface

"Three Years in Canada"— McTaggart, 1830.

" Shoe and Canoe " — Dr. Bigsby.

Park man's History of Canada.

Also to traditions of old settlers collected at
various times and places. May some of the
pictures set forth in these pages inspire us with
an ever-deepening appreciation of the self-sacri-
fice, the energy, the enterprise, of those whose
loyalty to the British Crown led them to pene-
trate the dark recesses of our Canadian forests
and brave the trials and vicissitudes of pioneer
life.

To these conquering heroes Canada owes
much of her prosperity and greatness.

IV

CONTENTS

I.— A WEIRD CEREMONY g

II. — THE WHITE CHIEF 16

III,— NEWITCHEWAGAN 28

IV.— AN INDIAN SUITOR 39

V. — CHRISSY 45

VI.— GAY VOYAGEURS 53

VII.— "A MINISTERING ANGEL, THOU" ... 67

VIII.— CONVENT DAYS 81

IX.— THE NEW TUTOR 99

X.— TOBACCO OFFERINGS 106

XI. — SNARES 1*4

XII.— MRS. BANCROFT'S SUGARING OFF. . . 121
XIII. — ACCIDENTAL AND CONFIDENTIAL. . . 134
XIV. — MACHECAWA SCALPS THE ENGLISHMAN 141

XV.— A ROMANTIC WEDDING 150

XVI.— A PERILOUS JOURNEY 160

XVII.— A DOUBLE TRAGEDY 169

XVIII.— AN EXCITING MOOSE HUNT .... 179

XIX. AFTER MANY DAYS 199

XX --FOUND OUT 218

XXL— RIDEAU HALL IN THE THIRTIES ... 227
XXII.— LIGHT AT EVENTIDE 247

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PACE

Philemon Wright and Mrs. Wright . Frontispiece
"He stood there, a colossal statue in bronze" . 12
"Oh, Machecawa, my brother, it is not well that

you grieve " 36

" Soon twelve canoes rounded the headland " . -54
" When Martin came up I went down " . . .92
Hon. Louis Joseph Papineau and Madame Papineau 106
"The Chief proceeded to throw the tobacco into

the Chaudiere " no

Colonel By 179

" I remained behind the tree, dodging round" . 189
Hon. Thomas MacKay 227

The White Chief of the
Ottawa.

CHAPTER I.

A WEIRD CEREMONY.
1800.

" DE Beeg Chief he want to know, heem, by
what autorit6 you fellers, you, cut down hees
wood and tak" hees Ian' ? "

The speaker was a trapper named Brown,
who had been in the employ of the Hudson's
Bay Company for many years, and, though
English by birth, spoke a mixed dialect, owing
to his association with French trappers and
traders and to the influence of his squaw wife.
He had, however, retained a sufficient knowledge
of English to be able to act as interpreter.

" Tell him," replied the leader of a group of
settlers, " that the great father who lives on the
other side of the water and Sir John Johnson, of
Quebec, have authorized us to take this land."
9

The White Chief of the Ottawa

" He say, heem," continued the interpreter, as
he squirted the juices of his quid on the bronze
carpet of pine needles, " dat you must tink dat
dese chute and reever he want for hees beesnesse,
an hees papoose she want eat someteeng. He
want dis place, heem, pour chass6 le mooshrat
an' de moose, mak' le soucre an* ketch de feesh,
an' hees afeard dat you tak' hees beaver, kill
hees deer, break hees sucreries. You cut down
hees tree for shure you kill hees beesnesse."

" The tools and materials we brought," replied
the stranger, " are not for hunting or fishing, but
for clearing land, and we shall endeavour to
protect your beaver and fishing-grounds ; but as
for the sugaries, we must make use of them,
because the land has already been given us, and
if you will collect all your materials for making
sugar we shall pay cash for them."

" De Beeg Chief he say," continued Brown,
" dat white man seem bien ban, an' dat he will
be so wit heem, an' if he pay cinq Louis he am
geeve up all claim to de Ian'."

" Very well," said the stranger, " we shall pay
them thirty pounds if they will produce a deed
or title to the lands."

" He comprends pas,"* said the interpreter.
" L'agr^ment she was mak wit de fadder of hees
fadder."

*Understands not

10

A Weird Ceremony

Drawing a paper from his pocket the stranger
read as follows :

" The Indians have consented to relinquish
all claim to the land, in compensation for which
they receive annual grants from the Govern-
ment, which shall be withheld if they molest
settlers."

For a time no one spoke, then the Big Chief, in
a calm, deliberate and thoughtful manner, ad-
dressed the interpreter, who said :

" For shure he dunno, heem, how white man
mak' dat papier hear an' speak dem words of
long tarn. Dis man he hav' someteeng dat he
comprends pas."

A long consultation then took place among
the dusky sons of the forest, and once more
the interpreter turned to the stranger and said :

" Our tribe she tink like dis — Eenglishman he
got someteeng he comprends pas at all ; mabbe,
he say, she wan beeg loup garou* and he tink
it am better to be bon ami an' leeve in de sam'
place dan be bad ennemi ; so he am mak' you
chief an' be de bess frien'."

The words were hardly finished when the Big
Chief Machecawa (the strong one) advanced with
slow and stately tread and implanted a kiss on
the brow of the stranger. The Chief was a man

* An indescribable monster, supposed to have supernatural
powers.

II

The White Chief of the Ottawa

in the prime of life, of great height and strength.
As he stood there, still and motionless, he look-
ed like a colossal statue in bronze, a perfect
model, from his feathered head-dress to his
beaded moccasins. He was followed by several
subordinate chiefs who did likewise.

The Chief then spread a piece of well-dressed
moose-skin, neatly painted, before him on the
ground, upon which he opened a curious skin
bag containing several mysterious looking arti-
cles, the principal one being a small carved
image about eight inches long. Its first cover-
ing was of down, over which a piece of birch
bark was closely tied, and the whole was envel-
oped in several folds of red and blue cloth.
This little figure was evidently an object of the
most pious regard. The next article taken from
the bag was his war cap, which was decorated
with feathers and plumes of rare birds, the claws
of beaver, eagles, etc. Suspended from it was
a quill for every enemy whom the owner had
slain in battle. The remaining contents of the
bag were a piece of tobacco and a pipe.

These articles all being exposed, and the stem
of the pipe arranged upon two forks so as not to
touch the ground, Machecawa motioned to his
white brother to sit down opposite to him. The
pipe was then filled and attached to the stem.
A pair of wooden pinchers was provided to put
12

" He stood there, a colossal statue in bronze."—/. 12.

A Weird Ceremony

fire into it. All arrangements having been com-
pleted, the Indians gathered round in a circle,
awe and solemnity pervading all, while a subor-
dinate chief, O'Jawescawa, took up the pipe,
lighted it, and presented it to Machecawa, who
received it standing and held it between both
hands. He then turned to the east and drew a
few whiffs which he blew to that point The
same ceremony was performed to the other three
quarters, with his eyes directed upward during
the whole of it. Then holding the stem about
the middle between the three first fingers of
both hands, and raising them upon a line with
his forehead, he swung it three times round from
the east with the sun, when, after pointing and
balancing it in various directions, he laid it upon
the forks. He then made a speech acknowledg-
ing past mercies and expressing the confidence
that the blessing of peace would attend all their
dealings with the stranger, upon whom he would
now confer the title of " VVabisca Onodis," the
White Chief.

He then sat down, while the whole company
declared their approbation and thanks by utter-
ing the word " Ho," with an emphatic prolonga-
tion of the last letter.

O'Jawescawa then took up the pipe and held
it to the mouth of Machecawa, who, after smok-
ing three whiffs out of it, uttered a short prayer
13

The "White Chief of the Ottawa

and then went round with it, taking his course
from east to west, to every man present, both
Indians and white men, who could confidently
affirm that they entertained no grudge against
any of the assembled party, until the pipe was
smoked out, when, after turning it three or four
times round his head, he dropped it downwards
and replaced it in its original position.

Machecawa then approached the stranger and
the little band who were with him and uttered a
short guttural sound, which the interpreter said
meant, " Come and eat."

To refuse would be a grave offence, so the
invitation was accepted by all, who followed the
Big Chief through a narrow and winding path,
which led to a small lake midway between the
Gatineau River and the Chaudiere Falls. They
arranged themselves in front of a number of
huts made of bent boughs, some of which were
covered with bark and some with deerskin,
securely sewed and stretched tight as a drum.
Following the example of the Indians they
squatted on the ground in a circle.

Surrounded by a chattering group of squaws
sat Newitchewagan, the wife of the Chief,
with a child between her knees, while she
hunted through the jungle of his hair with
destroying thumb and finger. One old squaw,
who was kneeling under a tree rubbing and

A Weird Ceremony

twisting a moccasin between her hands, paused
to fill her mouth with water, which she spurted
in repeated jets over the moccasin. A little
papoose, strapped to a flat piece of wood about
three feet long spread with soft moss, was
suspended to a branch of a tree. It crowed and
laughed quite merrily as it was swayed to and
fro by the cold wind. While the feast was in
course of preparation the new Chief and his
friends were entertained by songs of a most
melancholy nature.

It was a strange scene that presented itself
that cold and frosty evening in March. The
snow-drifts were covered with a crust of frozen
sleet, which crunched beneath the tread of
moccasined feet. The bare branches of the
maples were encased in ice, with long icicles
attached, which glistened and reflected like a
prism the rays of the setting sun. Small troughs
of basswood, hollowed out in the middle by
burning, stood at the trunk of almost every tree
to catch the sap, which had ceased to run for
several days owing to the "cold snap" which
had taken place in the weather.

" How do you make sugar without pots ? "
asked the new Chief of the interpreter.

Pointing to a green hardwood stump he
explained, in broken English, that the squaws
burned a deep hole in the centre, into which
2 15

The "White Chief of the Ottawa

they poured the sap which they had gathered.
Stones heated on the fire were then dropped
into the wooden cauldron, which caused the sap
to boil. This operation was repeated until it
was reduced to sugar.

There was little variation in the dress of the
grotesque figures gathered round the fire. All
had strips of deerskin tightly bound round their
legs instead of trousers, and which were never
removed unless to replace with new ones. Two
aprons, one behind and one before, were
fastened around their waist by girdles. Short
shirts made of skin were fastened at the neck
and arms, and were removed while portaging or
paddling. They had very little hair — only a
tuft on the top of the head, which was stuck full
of feathers, wings and shells. Not a man
among them could boast of a beard. The squaws
were dressed in much the same fashion, except
that the aprons were a trifle longer than those
worn by the men, and their coarse black hair
floated in the breeze.

Soon a young squaw drew from the ashes the
charred remains of fully a score of partridges,
which had not been divested of feathers nor
cleaned internally. On removing the outer
covering of charred feathers and ashes, she laid
one for each man present before the Big Chief,
who, with great solemnity, cast the first one into
16

A Weird Ceremony

the fire as a sacrifice to the Great Spirit, the
Master of Life. Pieces of bear-steak, which
had been sizzling before the fire, were then
served, while the Chief entertained his guests
with strange monotonous songs, accompanied
by the " shishiquoi," or rattle.

Full justice having been done to these and
other Indian delicacies, Machecawa addressed
the new Chief, the interpretation of his remarks
being as follows :

" Our white brother will never inspire his
enemies with feelings of awe or fear if he
does not wear war-paint. Will the white- faced
stranger consent to let us use our brush so as to
make him such an object of terror that even his
enemies will flee from him ? "

" No ! No ! ! No ! ! ! " said the new Chief.
" Soot and grease and ochre are for Indians, not
for white men."

Whereupon the Indian said : " It is the
custom of our chiefs to chose a manitou, who
will protect them in times of danger and who
will give them success in the chase."

" Tell them," replied the new Chief, " that the
white man's Manitou is a Great Spirit whom we
call ' Our Father,' and he saves and keeps and
protects us by night and by day."

" Will the new Chief then permit us to graven
on his body the form of this Great Spirit ? "
17

The White Chief of the Ottawa

" The form of the Spirit has been engraven on
my body," he replied, " when He created me in
His likeness."

The little group of settlers observed that a
white dog, the mystic animal of many tribes,
was being tied to the end of an upright pole.
Presently the Chief, in a loud voice, began to
pray to the ' Great Spirit Father,' the new Chiefs
Manitou, begging Him to accept the living
sacrifice about to be offered. The Indians then
rushed upon the animal in a state of frenzy and
began to devour the raw, quivering flesh. This
weird ceremony was a mystery to the assembled
whites, and remained a mystery for some time.

This concluded the ceremonies of the day,
and the new Chief and his friends returned to
their shanties on the banks of the Ottawa, near
the western point of the Gatineau, loaded with
glory and Indian hospitality.

18

CHAPTER II.

THE WHITE CHIEF.
1800.

THE hero of our sketch, Philemon Wright,
was a man forty years of age. In appearance
he was of a strong, broad build, and stood six
feet in his stockings. A wealth of flaxen hair
was brushed straight back from a high and
noble brow. His face was profoundly medita-
tive. Thick eyebrows shaded the eyes, which
were wonderfully quick, observant and pene-
trating. His features indicated goodness and
energy, strength of will and determination. His
muscles were the envy of all who felt them.

Like all superior men, Philemon Wright
nourished long his projects, but decision once
made he set himself to realize them with ardor,
obstacles only serving to intensify his energy, for
he employed all the resources of his spirit and
inflexible will to triumph over them. He was a
worthy descendant of the men of Kent who
followed Harold to victory through difficulties
which to others would have been insurmount-
able.

'9

The White Chief of the Ottawa

His father, Thomas Wright, having sold his
estates in Kent, settled in Woburn, twenty miles
from Boston, in 1760, where Philemon, the fifth
and youngest son, was born shortly afterwards.
While a mere lad of fifteen he saw active service
in the Revolutionary War, in the vicinity of
Boston and New York, taking up arms as a
British subject against the short-sighted rulers
of the Motherland in the vain hope of wresting
from them the rights which the revolutionists
considered were their due.

Philemon married, at twenty-two, a Miss
Wyman, of Irish descent, whose grand-nephews,
Rufus and Joseph Choate, have since played so
conspicuous a place in the drama of American
history, and had seven promising children, who
were known familiarly as Phil, Bearie, Chrissy,
Abbie, Christie, Mary and Rug.

Philemon Wright was a man of indomitable
courage, enterprise, industry and perseverance,
and had acquired considerable property in the
neighborhood of Boston. Finding a better
market in Canada for farm produce, he went
every fall to Montreal, and in 1796 determined
to go on a tour of exploration on the Grand
River, or the Utawas, as the Ottawa was then
called.

A few settlements then existed for the first
forty-five miles, up to the Long Sault Rapids,
20

The White Chief

but beyond this point the seventy-five or
eighty miles was a complete wilderness. He
found that this part of the country was entirely
unknown to the inhabitants of Montreal, except-
ing, of course, to the employees of the two great
fur-trading companies, though its immense
resources of fine timber were, he said, " sufficient
to furnish supplies for any foreign market, even
to load one thousand vessels."

Prominent members of the fur companies in
Montreal drew his attention to their printed
report, which stated that there was not five
hundred acres of arable land on the extensive
banks of the whole river.

"It may be to your interests to keep the
Grand River from becoming settled," he said,
" but you may bet your best beaver-skin on this,
that there is at least five hundred thousand acres
of uncleared land fit for cultivation on the banks
of the Grand River.

In 1797 he again visited Canada, and
examined the country from Quebec to Mon-
treal, on both sides of the St. Lawrence, and
then up the Ottawa as far as the Chaudiere
Falls, studying carefully the navigation of the
Ottawa, and its fitness for settlement.

In 1798 this enterprising but cautious man paid
his third visit to his future home, and returned
to Massachusetts with a full determination to
21

The White Chief of the Ottawa

commence a settlement. He failed, however, to
inspire his neighbors with his own confidence in
the scheme, and he therefore selected two
respectable men from among them, and hired
them to go with him the following summer to
examine and report on what they saw. Their
report, which was afterwards published in the
Canadian Magazine of September, 1824, is as
follows :

" We spent twenty days in October in explor-
ing the Township of Hull. We climbed to the
top of one hundred or more trees to view the
situation of the country, which we accomplished
in the following manner : We cut smaller trees
in such a way as to fall slanting and to lodge in
the branches of the larger ones, which we
ascended until we arrived at the top. By this
means we were enabled to view the country and
also the timber, and by the timber we could
judge the nature of the soil, which we found to
answer our expectations. After having exam-
ined well the nature of the township, we
descended the river and arrived, after much
fatigue, at Montreal."

The report was so satisfactory to the people
of Woburn that Mr. Wright was able to hire as
many as he wished for the new settlement.

It was fully five hundred miles from Woburn
to the Chaudiere, but the nineteenth century
22

The White Chief

was hardly a month old when the little band
braved the journey. Their leader assumed all
risks himself, and with twenty-five men, five
families, having a membership of thirty, fourteen
horses, eight oxen, and seven sleighs loaded
with mill irons, agricultural implements, car-
penters' tools, household effects, provisions, left
the quiet New England village. The route
taken was the old stage road from Boston
to Montreal, which passed through Woburn to
Haverhill, thence to Concord, thence north-
westward along the shore of Lake Memphrema-
gog to Montreal, which was reached on the
ninth day.

Montreal at that time was a very gloomy-
looking little town, with a population of about
seven thousand. It was surrounded by an old
wall about fifteen feet high, with battlements
and other fortifications. The houses were
mostly built of grey stone, with sheet-iron roofs
and iron window shutters, which gave them a
prison-like appearance. The streets were narrow
and crooked. Traineaux drawn by French
ponies, and toboggans loaded with furs and
drawn by several dogs in tandem, were fre-
quently seen in the streets when this brave little
band of New Englanders gazed in wonder upon
the old historic French town.

The caravan then wended its way towards
23

The White Chief of the Ottawa

the north shore of the Ottawa. Its progress at
first was slow, making only fifteen miles a day
for the first three days, owing to the sleighs
being wider than those used in Canada. On the
third day they had reached the foot of the Long
Sault and the terminus of the road. They were
eighty miles from their destination, in a wilder-
ness of snow and ice, and with no trace of a
road.

" We proceeded to the head of the Sault,"
said Mr. Wright, in relating their experiences in
the House of Assembly in 1 820, " observing
before night came on to fix upon some spot near
water to encamp for the night, where there were
no dry trees to fall upon us or our cattle. Then
we cleared away the snow and cut down trees
for fire for the night, the women and children
sleeping in covered sleighs, the men with
blankets around the fire, and the cattle mad 3
fast to the standing trees ; and I never saw men
more cheerful and happy, having no landlord to
call upon them for expenses and no unclean
floors to sleep upon, but the sweet ground which
belongs to our Sovereign. We always prepared
sufficient refreshment for the following day, so
as to lose no time on our journey when daylight
appeared. We kept our axemen forward cutting
the road, and our foraging team next, and the
24

The White Chief

families in the rear. In this way we proceeded
on for three or four days, observing to look out
for a good place for our camp, until we arrived
at the head of the Long Sault, from whence we
travelled the whole distance upon the ice until
we reached our destination. My guide was
unacquainted with the ice, as our former
journeys were by water. We went very slowly
lest we might lose our cattle, keeping the axemen
forward trying every rod of the ice, which was
covered with snow.

" I cannot pass over this account," continued
Mr. Wright, " without referring to a sauvage,
from whom we received great kindness. We
met him with his wife drawing a child upon a
bark sleigh. They looked at us with astonish-
ment. They viewed us as though we had come
from the clouds, walking around our teams and
trying to talk with us concerning the ice, but
not a word could we understand. We then
observed him giving directions to his squaw,
who immediately left him and went to the
woods, while he proceeded to the head of our
company, without promise of fee or reward, with
his small axe trying the ice at almost every step.
We proceeded in this way without meeting with
any accident for about six days, when we
arrived safely at the township of Hull. We
25

The White Chief of the Ottawa

had some trouble in cutting the brush and
ascending the height, which is about twenty feet
from the water. Our sauvage, after seeing us
safely up the bank, spent the night with us and
made us to understand that he must return to
his squaw and child, and after receiving presents
for his great services, took his departure."

What must have been the feelings of the
pioneer settlers when they beheld for the first
time the magnificent scenery of the Chaudiere,
before its wild beauty was defaced by the wood-
man's axe or its sparkling waters used in slides
and mill-races ?

Three openings loomed up before them — the
most distant one, to the left, a broad half-rapid,
half-cascade, sweeping down among islands of
pines ; the middle passage seemed very narrow
and carried away in a sort of creamy foam the
waters of the Chaudiere proper; while the nearer
or right passage led by a winding route to a
rocky cove at the beginning of the portage road.
Surely never had they beheld anything so
picturesque, so indescribably grand, as it
appeared to them on that bright and frosty
evening ! The precipices and rocky gorge of
the opposite shore, green with pine and cedar to
the river's brink, and covered with a mantle of
beautiful snow ; the volume of water, tossed,
26

The White Chief

broken, dashed into foam, which floated down
like miniature icebergs on the mighty rushing
current till the natural ice-bridge was reached,
made a scene not soon to be forgotten. The
turrets, domes and battlements of the Domin-
ion House of Parliament, which in a few short
years was destined to crown the opposite cliffs,
were a dream beyond the wildest imagination of
our Pioneer.

27

CHAPTER III.

NE WITCHE WA CAN.
1802.

TWO years had slipped away. The ice moon
had given place to the crescent whirlwind moon.
The wild duck and geese had long since ceased
their plash, plash in the water opposite "The
Wigwam," as the children delighted to call their
new home in the forest. The noble rivers, the
picturesque falls, the monarchs of the forest
towering heavenwards, the fragrance of pine and
cedar, the lakes and rivers teeming with fish and
fowl and fur-bearing animals, seemed to the
children of the new Chief a paradise ; nor were
they alone in their views. The stern realities of
pioneer life made it none the less enchanting to
the man who gloried in overcoming difficulties
and in braving hardships in one of the greatest
conquests undertaken by man — the wresting of
a wilderness from savagery to civilization.

The " Wigwam " was situated in the midst of

an estate of twenty-two thousand acres, part of

which had been received as a grant, but the

greater portion being purchased from the Gov-

28

Newftchewagan

ernment, for the Chief had by no means suffered
losses such as many U. E. Loyalists had borne,
having brought with him a capital of nearly
fifty thousand dollars.

The new home presented a strange contrast
to the cosy, comfortable New England farm-
house. It was built of undressed tamarac logs
in true rustic shanty fashion. The chinks be-
tween the logs and scoops of the roof were
" caulked " with moss, driven in with a thin
pointed handspike, over which a rude plaster of
blue clay was daubed. The chimney was very
wide and low, and was built above a huge
boulder which formed the back of the fire-place.
There was no upper story to the rude dwelling,
which was partitioned off into bedrooms at each
end, with a large living room, kitchen, dining-
room all in one, in the centre.

A wild night had set in. It seemed as though
all nature had gone mad. The wind struggled
with doors and windows for an entrance to the
humble home, but only served to intensify the
warmth and light and joy within, for it made
the great fire roar and crackle the merrier.

A group of happy children were popping corn
before the glowing coals. Near them sat the
Chief and Mrs. Wright conversing together in a
low voice. Laying down her knitting, the latter
looked earnestly into her husband's face.
29

The White Chief of the Ottawa

" Philemon, Philemon," she said sadly, " How
much more wisdom you are manifesting in the
breaking-in of the farm colts than in the training
of the boys. I am beginning to fear that you
will be much better served by the former than
by the latter. If you would but exercise your
God-given authority over them and uphold mine
we might hope for better results. The boys
are getting beyond control, and why ? Because,
though I am teaching them in theory the right
way, you are not insisting upon the practice of
such theories. Words will not curb the exuber-
ance of spirits nor check the waywardness of a
young horse. If left to himself he will go where
he wills. He must be trained with gentleness,
but with firmness, and so with our children."

" My dear," he said, " your ideals are above
me, and are as unlikely to be adopted by or-
dinary men of the world as the ideals of John
Bunyan or Richard Baxter."

" I see, I see," she said, with a voice thrilling
with emotion. " You hold up before them hopes
of future greatness or wealth as a stimulant to
goodness, studiousness, industry, that they may
become ' ordinary men of the world.' My am-
bition has ever been to train them for God and
His service."

H And you propose to do that," he said, coldly,
" by coersion, canings, imprisonments, fines."
30

Newitchewagan

"Not at all," she replied. "A child trained from
infancy in habits of obedience can generally be
managed without chastisement and will obey
from a sense of duty rather than from fear of
chastisement."

" All very beautiful in theory," said the father,
with a yawn, as he stretched himself to his full
length, " but the Indian theory in my opinion is
the best They allow their children to do as
they please and never check them, and what is
the result ? A self-reliant, independent people ;
a people who have not been deprived of strength
of character or will power by constant subjec-
tion to the will of others ; a people who, until
spoiled by contact with unchristian whites, have
followed the dictates of conscience rather than a
code of prohibitory laws ; a people who scorn
mean, dishonorable transactions."

" Of two things I am convinced," said Mrs.
Wright, thoughtfully, " ' a child left to himself
bringeth his mother to shame,' and his father
also, for that matter, and that if we secure the
formation of right principles at an early age we
may with confidence give them their emancipa-
tion long before they grow up."

Suddenly the door opened and an Indian

entered. Though covered with snow from head

to foot, they recognized the chief, Machecawa.

Without a word he drew through the open door

3 3i

The White Chief of the Ottawa

a toboggan, upon which lay his squaw in an
almost dying condition. At her bosom was a
tiny babe, two days old.

Newitchewagan had had a severe chill. He
had given her a vapor bath by heating boulders
in the fire, dashing water on them, over which
he had held her suspended in a blanket. For a
time she seemed better, but not having sufficient
covering, the keen north wind had caused a re-
currence of chills, and notwithstanding the con-
juring and charms of her friends she was
evidently fast sinking, and the Chief, in his hour
of sorrow, had fled for help to Mrs. Wright
(whom the Indians regarded as possessing
mysterious healing power), in the vain hope of
finding some new way of saving her.

Mingled expressions of astonishment and
pity came into the face of the mother of the
household as she hastily left her seat by the
side of her husband and assisted in removing
the poor squaw to a comfortable bed.

Though not a popular type of New England
beauty, there was a something about Mrs. Wright
a certain expression so subtle as to escape
definition, which gave her presence a strong
personal magnetism, while her dignity and a
marked grace of manner gave her an in-
dividuality which proclaimed her a queen
among women. She was a woman of high
32

Newitchcwagfan

ideals. " I fear not," she said, in a letter to her
sister, " the wolves whose dismal howls echo
and re-echo every night through the forest ; I
fear not the savages who walk into our home
with as little ceremony as though it were their
own ; I fear not sickness nor death in this
wilderness so far from medical aid. One thing
only I fear, that I may fail in my duty to my
husband, my children and my neighbors."

Her husband's " worldliness," her sons' lack of
interest in religious matters and their tendency
to adopt the language and expressions of the
low and the vicious, afforded matter for con-
stant reproof, rebuke and exhortation. Her
efforts to develop in her children the highest
ideals of Christian manhood and womanhood
were not fully appreciated by the Chief, who
was too feudal in his views of woman to under-
stand a life like hers. The phenomenon of a
woman superior to himself in mind and soul had
never ceased to be a matter of perplexity to
him. Her ideals were beyond his compre-
hension. He had not arrived at the conclusion
that a wife should be allowed free scope for the
exercise of her own individuality. Her position
in the home was one of utter subjection and
servitude. She was permitted to have no will
but his, no plans but his, and to have no ideas
but his. At the marriage ceremony " they two
33

The "White Chief of the Ottawa

were made one," and that one was her lord and
master.

Mrs. Wright's interest was not confined to her
own family circle, for, notwithstanding the
constant pressure of home duties, she had "a
heart at leisure from itself to soothe and
sympathize," and to the Indians and early
settlers in their loneliness, their sorrows and
sufferings, she was a mother, and more than a
mother, for she was the only physician, the only
clergyman, the only teacher that the little
colony possessed for the first few years of its
struggling existence. Her medical book and
case of medicines, a gift from Dr. Green, of
Woburn, brought relief to many sufferers. Her
library, consisting of such volumes as " The
Pilgrim's Progress," Baxter's "Saints' Rest,"
Young's " Night Thoughts," Hervey's " Medi-
tations Among the Tombs," did much to
enlighten, if not to cheer, darkened souls, while
from the newest Boston school-books she trained
the youth of the settlement in the elementary
principles of the arts and sciences.

Such was the woman whom Machecawa
sought in his hour of extremity.

All night long the noble chieftain of his
people sat by the bedside with downcast eyes.
The wind, having spent its force and fury,
34

Newitchewagan

moaned and sobbed round the house ; the
flickering light from the hearth cast strange,
weird shadows upon the wall when Newitche-
wagan opened her large dark eyes, gently
stroked the little black head on her bosom, and
with one affectionate look at him who had been
her companion in hardships, heaved a deep sigh
and was gone.

Machecawa, without uttering a word, hastily
left the Wigwam, and in a short time returned
with his face blackened and with several squaws,
who tore their hair, scattered ashes on their
heads, and raised their voices in wailing. They
arranged to have the burial service take place
in the evening, and it was well for the
inmates of the Wigwam that it was not
deferred for several days, for the wailing con-
tinued without cessation until all that was left
of Newitchewagan was wrapped in birch bark
and securely tied with a cord of deerskin, like a
parcel, when it was borne by four young braves
and laid upon a raised platform of boughs,
between two fires which had been kindled a
little distance from the Wigwam.

The Indians then squatted cross-legged in a

large circle round the fires. Machecawa and his

motherless children were seated close to the

bier, their faces blackened, their hair and

35

The White Chief of the Ottawa

clothing torn and in disorder. The awful still-
ness was at length broken by old O'Jawescawa,
who left his seat and, approaching the grief-
stricken husband, said :

" O Machecawa, my brother, it is not well
that you grieve. If Newitchewagan had lived
she would many times have been hungry and
cold and weary ; but in the happy hunting-
ground, whither she has gone, there is neither
hunger nor cold nor weariness. Therefore you
should be glad." He then drew his hunting-
knife from his belt, and, slashing it through the
birch-bark wrappings, cried :

" O Kitche Manitou ! These places do I cut
that our sister's spirit may come and go as she
wills it, that she may visit us sometimes, that
she may see our brother Machecawa when he is
very sad."

Again he turned to his chief. " Our sister is
gone, oh, my brother," he continued, "but you
shall see her again. But she shall be changed,
and you will not know her ; but when you enter
the Land of the Hereafter then you must sing
always this little song, and so she will know you."

In a clear and true tenor old O'Jawescawa
chanted a weird, minor air with tearful falling
cadences.

" And when she hears that song," he went on,
36

"Oh, Machecawa, my brother, it is not well that you grieve."

-p. 36.

Newitchewagan

"then she will answer it with this" — and he
sang through another little song.

The long-drawn, plaintive chords, the sense of
awe inspired by the darkness and the firelight,
and of the grave sad prayer, caused Mrs. Wright
and her young flock to sob aloud.

"And so in that way," concluded O'Jawes-
cawa, " you shall know each other."

The young men bore the remains to a grave
that had been dug a short distance away in a
pine grove. After the earth had been filled in,
three of the women knelt and put together a
miniature wigwam of birch-bark, complete in
every detail. Then O'Jawescawa began again
to speak, addressing the occupant of the grave
in a low tone of confidence.

" O Newitchewagan," our sister," said he, " I
place this bow and these arrows in your lodge
that you may be armed on the Long Journey.

"O Niwitchiwagan, our sister, I place these
snow-shoes in your lodge that you may be fleet
on the Long Journey."*

In like manner he deposited in the little wig-
wam extra moccasins, a model canoe and
paddle, food, and a miniature robe. Then they
all returned to their camp, all but Machecawa,

* The writer is indebted to Mr. S. E. White for this account
of the squaw's burial.

37

The White Chief of the Ottawa

who crouched on the ground by the grave, his
blanket over his head, a silent, motionless figure
of desolation. For three whole nights and days
the Chief mourned for his squaw. Then he rose
and went about his ordinary duties with un-
moved countenance, and the grave was left to
the sun and snow and rain and the mercy of all-
forgetting Nature.

CHAPTER IV.

AN INDIAN SUITOR.
1803.

MACHECAWA and his friend O'Jawescawa
became frequent visitors at the Wigwam. They
would come in the morning, uninvited, and sit
silently all day long before the open fire and
observe all that was going on. The spinning-
wheel and hand-loom were objects of unceasing
interest to them, and though it proved a great
distraction to the children in their studies, and
to the girls in the performance of their domestic
duties, to have them there, they were always
treated not only with respect but with consider-
ation and kindness.

One morning Machecawa stood gazing in-
tently into the fire. His face wore an expression
of perplexity. At length he turned to the
White Chief, who was explaining a mathematical
problem to one of his boys, and said :

"Big Injun, he want to speak his thoughts
from books. He want to know white man's
Manitou."

" May I teach him, father ? Just for an hour
39

The White Chief of the Ottawa

every day ? " said Chrissy, a tall, fair, thoughtful
girl of seventeen, who was known throughout
the settlement as the " Saint," for she had been
led to take a serious view of life by a Quaker
friend in the old school at Woburn. " It would
be such a pleasure for me to lead him to a
knowledge of the truth.

The father readily granted the request, and it
was arranged that he should receive instruction
from Chrissy every morning while the younger
boys were having their lessons. Never had
teacher a more apt, humble, or willing pupil.
Never had pupil a more considerate, patient,
kind-hearted instructor. Over and over again
did she repeat words and sentences until at last
the Indian found, to his unspeakable joy, that he
was beginning to acquire the words pretty freely.

The morning hour with Machecawa proved of
such interest that it was not an uncommon thing
to see the White Chief and all the children
listening intently to Chrissy and the Indian as
they compared their respective creeds.

One morning, after she had been giving an
account of the creation and the deluge, she said,
"Now, tell me what you think of these things.
Do the Indians ever think of how the world was
made ? Did they ever hear of a flood ? "

Machecawa replied in broken English, the
interpretation of which is as follows :
40

An Indian Suitor

The Indian believes that the great Manabozo
is king of all other animal kings. The West
Wind is his father, and his mother is grand-
daughter of the Moon. Sometimes he is a wolf;
sometimes a hare ; sometimes he is a wicked
spirit. Manabozo was hunting with his brother, a
wolf, who fell through the ice in a lake and was
eaten by snakes. Manabozo was very cross and
changed himself into the stump of a tree and sur-
prised the king of the serpents and killed him.
The snakes were all Manitous, and they made the
water flood the world. Manabozo climbed a
tree which grew and grew as the flood came up
and was saved from the wicked spirits.

Manabozo looked over the waters and he saw
a loon, and he cried to the loon for help to save
the world. The loon went under the water to
look for mud to build the world again, but he
could not find the bottom. Then a muskrat
tried, but he came up on his back nearly dead.
Manabozo looked in his paws and found
a little mud, and he took the mud and the dead
body of the loon and with it created the world
anew again.

" And do you believe that ? " said the White
Chief.

" Our tribe she believe like that," replied the
Indian.

"What is that thing tied round your neck,

The White Chief of the Ottawa

Machecawa?" said Bearie, the second son, a
short, well knit, sturdy-looking youth of eighteen,
whose every expression reflected a bright, happy,
generous disposition.

" She am my Manitou," replied the Indian.

"What is a Manitou? Every Indian you
meet with seems to differ on the subject."

" Some tarn she am wan ting, some tarn she
am anodder."

" That is evading the question," said Chrissy.

" What kind of a Manitou have you got inside
of that little bag which is tied round your
neck?" persisted Bearie. "Will you let me
see it ? "

" No ! No ! ! No ! ! ! " he said excitedly. " My
Manitou she am not be pleese."

" Come, now, old man," he said. " Tell us all
about it."

"What is it?"

" How did you get it ? "

"What is it for?"

" Waal," he said, reluctantly, " When I am a
boy, me, just become a man, my fadder, he say,
' Machecawa, tarn you got a manitou.' My face
he paint black, black. He say, heem, 'you no
eat no teeng seex days.' By em by I am dream
some teeng, me, dat some teeng she am my
manitou. She help me kill beeg bear ; she
mak dem Iroquois dogs run like one wild moose.
42

An Indian Suitor

My fadder she am pleese ; she make my manitou
on my arm — see ! " he said, rolling up his sleeve.

On his shoulder was the rude outline of a fish,
which had been tatooed with sharp bones and
with the juice of berries rubbed in.

" But what is in the little bag ? " asked Bearie.
" Will you let me see it ? "

After a good deal of reluctance he gave in at
last, and two curious boys untied the precious
parcel, while the others, equally curious, looked
over his shoulders at a few old broken fish bones
which were all the little bag contained.

" Well, old man," said Bearie, slowly replacing
the sacred relics, " we put our faith in some-
thing better than that. The white man trusts
the Great Spirit in heaven to care for him and
to take him to heaven when he dies."

" Any bear in hebben ? " asked the Indian.

" No," said Bearie, " only good people."

" Dat hebben she am no good for big Injun,"
said Machecawa, sadly. " De happy hunting
ground she am full of moose, buffalo, bear,
beaver. She am far, far away at de end of land,
where de sun she sleep — two, tree moons away.
One beeg dog she am cross, an' she bark at dead
Injun, but he go on, an' on, an' on, an' den he am
glad."

It began to dawn upon the vigilant mother at
length that it was not so much the wonders of
43

The White Chief of the Ottawa

civilization nor the desire to " speak his thoughts
from books " that led Machecawa day after day
to the Wigwam, as an ever-increasing interest
in her fun-loving daughter, Abbie, who was a
year younger than Chrissy, and who seemed
unconscious of the fact that the eyes of the red
chief were ever upon her.

Chrissy was at a loss to understand why he
had suddenly lost all interest in the studies and
seemed preoccupied with other thoughts. She
was beginning to grow discouraged, and was
sorely tempted to abandon any further attempts
at instruction, when Machecawa suddenly left
her one morning as she sat by the table with the
open book, and, approaching his white brother,
said, in broken English :

" Father, I love your daughter," pointing his
forefinger at Abbie. " Will you give her to me
that the small roots of her heart may entwine
themselves with mine so that the strongest wind
that blows may never separate them ? "

For a moment there was silence in the room.
The White Chief's face grew dark. The veins
of his temples began to swell with rage. In a
burst of passion he said :

"My child become your slave? Never! Never!

The Indian wants woman to gather his wood,

carry his burdens, dress his skins, make his

clothes, build his house, cook his food, care for

44

An Indian Suitor

his children. No, no, Machecawa ; no white
woman would be happy to work like a squaw or
to suffer as such."

Not a word could the Big Chief utter. He
gave a deep sigh and gazed at Abbie fondly and
admiringly. The inexpressible agony in his face
touched the father's heart, and he added :

" My daughter is too young to marry, but
when she is old enough to know her own mind
she may answer for herself."

A ray of light and hope crept into the dark
face, and drawing from a pouch a string of
claws and teeth of rare birds and animals, he
approached Abbie and fastened it about her
snowy neck.

" You have conferred upon me a great honor,
Machecawa," said Abbie, smiling, " but you shall
have to wait for several years, for I have many
things to learn before I could become the squaw
of an Algonquin chief."

The chief then resumed his seat at the table
and went on with his task with as much com-
placency as though nothing had happened,
while Abbie and her brothers quietly withdrew
in order to give vent to their feelings.

45

CHAPTER V.

CHRISSY.
1804.

As THE settlement did not afford any greater
educational advantages than Mrs. Wright, with
a multitude of other claims upon her time, was
able to give to her daughters, Chrissy and
Abbie were sent to a convent in Quebec, there
being no other boarding-schools in Canada at
this time.

Among their school friends was Sally Smith,
whose mother invited them to spend Christmas
with them at the officers' quarters at the Citadel.

" Just fancy! " said Mrs. Smith, addressing her
husband, the Colonel, and his guest, a young
Scotchman, as the girls entered the dining-room.
" Shut up in a convent for sixteen months with
nothing to vary the monotony of it ! Do they
not deserve a holiday ? "

As they were introduced George Morrison
and Chrissy looked at each other and bowed
formally and composedly, and an awkward,
embarrassing silence followed. For the first
time in his life the presence of a fair and lovely
46

Chrissy

girl cast a spell over him so extraordinary that,
as he sat opposite to her at the dinner-table and
watched her frank, bright, expressive face, his
own responded to her every expression.

It would not be difficult to say which had
made the most profound impression upon the
mind of the honest young Scotchman, his
distant kinsman, the Colonel, with his handsome,
kindly face and his sturdy English character,
or the tall, slight form before him, with sloping
shoulders, tapering arms, and a face lovely in its
spiritual contour.

George Morrison thought he had never met
such a man as the Colonel, nor was the admira-
tion unreciprocated, for his host took a great
fancy to George. " He is one of those men," he
remarked to his wife, " whom porridge and the
Shorter Catechism have endowed with grit and
backbone — just the sort of fellow for the Hudson's
Bay Company's service. In dealing with traders
and trappers men of nerve are needed, men of
brain, men of muscle. George Morrison is not
a man to be imposed upon. He can take his
place at the head of a crowd of dare-devils and
keep them under perfect control."

It is hardly possible in a way for a young man

to live in the same house with a young and

lovely woman like Chrissy without running more

or less risk of entanglement. More especially is

4 47

The White Chief of the Ottawa

this so where the two have had little or no out-
side society to divert their attention from each
other. George and Chrissy soon found it plea-
sant to be a good deal together. Before she had
been a week in the house he had come to the con-
clusion that Chrissy was one of the most attractive
women he had ever met, and one of the strangest.
That she was clever and good he soon discovered
from remarks she made from time to time ; but
that she had something that he did not possess
was evident, and it puzzled him. So curious
was he to fathom the mystery that he took
every opportunity of associating with her in the
hope of drawing from her the secret of her
joyous, triumphant life.

They read together, sang together, walked
together, and it seemed to them both that every
word interchanged, every blending sound of
their voices, every step they took, was welding
together a bond which had existed since first they
met at the Colonel's hospitable table. To George
it seemed a natural sequence that when he had
for the first time met the young woman who, he
was convinced, was predestined by God to be
his counter-part that the recognition should be
mutual. He knew that she had a way of making
him feel perfectly at ease in her society. When
he was talking to her, or even sitting silently by
her, he felt a sense of restfulness and reliance
48

Chrissy

that he had never before experienced in the
society of a woman, especially since he bade
farewell to civilization to lead his men through
the trackless maze of rivers, lakes and woods of
the North- West

It soon became evident to Chrissy that George
liked her society. It never occurred to her what
a boon it was to the rugged Nor'wester to be
thrown, for the first time, into the society of
a young woman not only of considerable
intellectual attainments but of deep spirituality.

Chrissy did not think of love or marriage at
first. What she did think of was the possibility
of leading the young Scotchman into the highest
realm of life — the spiritual.

They had just left the little old-fashioned
church, and were walking the snowy streets in
silence, when Chrissy spoke :

" Do you know," she said, shyly, " it's very
strange, but you are the only man I have ever
met to whom I could speak with confidence of
the subject nearest my heart."

" And what may that be ? " he asked, a ray of
light and hope illumining his face.

" It is the realization of the love of the Unseen
and Eternal. More to me than the sweetest
earthly tie is One whom having not seen I love."

" It is all a mystery to me," he said. "In fact
it is incomprehensible how anyone can manifest
49

The "White Chief of the Ottawa

such enthusiasm and devotion to One unknown.
Though I learned at mother's knee that ' man's
chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him for-
ever,' I have never been able to get beyond the
theory of it."

" I am sorry for you," she said, her voice
trembling with disappointment.

For several minutes neither spoke, when
Chrissy said, slowly and thoughtfully :

" How oblivious the mineral kingdom is to
the life of the world above it, and the vegetable
kingdom to that of the animal. How much
more so the man or woman having a mere
physical existence to the life' of the spiritual.
They have not the faculty of comprehending its
joys or its privileges any more than a stone can
appreciate a flower, or a flower appreciate science
or art. My heart yearns with unutterable pity
for anyone to whom Christ and the things of
the spiritual world are not a reality."

George made no response, and as they had
reached the door of the Colonel's quarters, he
grasped her hand.

" Chrissy, Chrissy," he said, " I must go. I
dare not trust myself to speak," and he left her
standing on the door-step.

The happy holidays had slipped away all too
soon. Chrissy stood by a window gazing at the
panorama before her. The moonlight poured

Chrissy

through the window, filling the room with a soft
radiance which rested upon her head with a
kind of halo. The indescribable beauty of the
scene without faded into insignificance compared
with the scene which George Morrison con-
templated— a young woman whose pure heart
was mirrored in the beauty of her face and
breathed in every accent of her gentle voice.
Her earnest blue eyes looked as though they
could see into that other world of which she so
often spoke. Never before had he beheld a life
so filled with fascinating grace as to pervade
every gesture and accent. Never had he met a
soul so permeated with love and devotion to
God, and withal so simple, so natural, so sweet

Chrissy was evidently oblivious to the presence
of anyone, and started when George suddenly
remarked :

" Pardon me, Miss Chrissy, if I intrude upon
the sacredness of your meditations, but I under-
stand you are going to leave us to-morrow. We
may not meet again, for you will be shut up
within the cloistered walls yonder and I shall be
leaving in the spring for the great unknown
land. I shall have cause to thank God through
all eternity for your visit. I am grateful,
deeply grateful, for the loving interest you have
manifested in my welfare, and I cannot part with
you, dear Chrissy, without giving some expres-

The White Chief of the Ottawa

sion of the intense love I have for you. It would
be heaven begun on earth if I might only be
permitted to walk life's pathway with you ; but,
alas ! I am not in a position to offer you a home.
I am not one of those white-shirt-fronted gentle-
men such as we frequently meet with here, but,
thank God, I can now offer you a heart that is white,
a life that is pure. Life in the woods has rubbed
off any of the veneer or polish that I may have
brought with me from the Old Land, and I am
just as you see me, Chrissy, a plain, rough man
from the wilds of the West. Notwithstanding
which, could you not give me a pledge that some
time, somewhere, I may claim you as my own?"

For a moment Chrissy said nothing, but the
expression of her face was more eloquent than
any words. Her breast heaved with emotion as
she said, slowly and calmly:

" I am convinced that such a union as you
propose would be founded upon the only true
basis, a mutual love for Christ. Unions such as
this have only their beginning here ; their full
fruition is in eternity."

In a moment he was at her feet, and, pressing
her hand to his lips, he poured forth expressions
of happy gratitude to the Giver of all good.

To her lover she seemed as she stood before
him an incarnation "of love, of beauty, of good-
ness and grace, more like something belonging
to another world — a subject of a higher power.
52

CHAPTER VI.

GAY VOYAGEURS.
1805.

THE river was scarcely free from ice-floes
when Chrissy was summoned to the bedside of
her mother, who had been hovering between
life and death for several weeks. Weary and
worn with nervous apprehension and the strain
of the long and perilous journey, she entered
the sick-room. The flickering light from the
hearth fell upon the white face of the mother
whom she loved as only a mother could be
loved. She was sleeping soundly. Bending
over her she laid her cool hand on the fevered
brow, when the poor sufferer opened her eyes,
but was too weak to speak. She smiled faintly,
and again fell into a deep sleep. Through the
long watches of the night, and oft through the
day, she sat gazing at the sleeping form,
inwardly praying that she might not be taken
from them, that their home might not be left
desolate.

At last there came a beautiful sunny morning
in May when consciousness returned, and the
patient began to show other signs of recovery.
53

The White Chief of the Ottawa

Naturally of a strong, vigorous constitution,
Mrs. Wright soon became convalescent. One
evening she was lying on a couch before the
fire, when she observed the pallor of Chrissy's
earnest face.

" You must go out more, my child," she said.
" You have had a long siege of nursing. You
look worn out."

"Come along, (?hris," said Phil, her eldest
brother. "Let us go for a stroll down to the
shore."

It was a beautiful evening. The sun was
just veiling his face behind the western hills,
illuminating the sky with glory, when suddenly
they were attracted by the sweet strains of a
French song in the distance.

Soon twelve canoes rounded the headland,
coming up the mighty current of the river,
manned by men decked out in varied and bril-
liant colors. They sang as only Canadian
voyageurs could sing, suiting the action of the
paddles to the rhythm of the song :

" A la claire fontaine,
M'en allant, promener,
J'ai trouve' 1'eau si belle,
Que je m'y suis baig-ne',
Lui ya longstemps que je t'aime,
Jamais je ne t'oublierai."

Each verse was sung in solo, and then
54

•g

a
0

JZ

«

^

•c

Gay Voyageurs

repeated by all in chorus, finishing with a
piercing Indian shriek.

They followed them to the landing-place —
a great flat rock on the north side of the river,
at the beginning of the portage road — and
found them preparing to bivouac there for the
night, for all hands were busily engaged in
kindling fires and unstrapping blankets. It
was soon ascertained that it was one of the
Hudson's Bay Company's brigades en route for
the North, with supplies for the Company's
forts, and that it was in command of a young
Scotchman. Chrissy's pale face crimsoned as
George Morrison approached her, and invited
her and her brother to share his evening meal.
At first glance he could have seen a resem-
blance between Phil and Chrissy, in feature,
in manner and expression ; both had the same
quiet, thoughtful manner, the same calm,
deliberate way of speaking, and the same
reserved, proud bearing.

" I never dreamed of meeting you here," he
said, " or I should have had a sumptuous repast
ready. Fortunately I happen to have a tempt-
ing bit of beaver tail, which is considered a
great delicacy to Nor'westers."

George Morrison was not slow to observe that
Chrissy's face had an expression of sadness in it
that he had never seen before.
55

The White Chief of the Ottawa

" You seem melancholy and dispirited. What
is on your mind, Chrissy ? " he asked.

" I have been passing through a great trial,"
she responded, with quivering lips, " and I vowed
a solemn vow when I thought that all hope of
saving mother was gone, that if God would give
her back, I would devote my whole life entirely
and unreservedly to His service, even though it
involved the severance of every earthly tie."

Phil, who never felt more ill at ease, more
unresponsive, than when compelled to listen to a
conversation which touched upon sacred themes,
which were entirely beyond the range of his
comprehension, quietly withdrew from the tent
and strolled out to the fire, where a number of
strange figures lay in the shadow of the dusky
cliff. French voyageurs and coureurs des bois,
white trappers and Indians, in a variety of lazy
attitudes, reclined on buffalo robes and bearskins.
Most of them, with bleared eye and bloated
face, were puffing away at their pipes. Some
had red handkerchiefs round their heads holding
back their long black hair. Some wore buck-
skin smocks, fringed with bright colors and
drawn tight at the waist by sashes of brilliant
hue, with trousers of the same material with
little bells fastened from knee to ankle.

"They're a' guid canoemen," said an old
Scotchman, who had been for many years factor
56

Gay Voyageurs

at one of the trading-stations, and who was en
route to Moose Factory. " You should juist see
them at wark. They wadna think twice o'
takin' a canoe ower the Big Kettle yonner at
this time o' the year. Whan they are in ony
danger they faa' down on their knees an' caa' on
the Virgin an' a' the holy angels tae save them,
an' as sune as it is gane by they deny the verra
exeestence o' Virgin or angels aither, an' sweer
like troopers. The Government regairds them
as kin' o' ne'er-do-weels' an' ootcasts. When
they gang back tae ceevilization they spen' a'
they've made in the fur trade on their claes an'
in drucken bouts. As lang as their beaver-skins
last they set nae bouns tae their riot. Mon, I've
seen some o' thae verra men staulkin' thrae the
streets o' Montreal as nakit as a Sioux. Tho'
they're sic bauld dare-deevils they are verra
usfu' tae oor company, for they gang hunners
and hunners o' miles throu the leemitless maze
o' lakes an' rivers in the far North in sairch o'
furs. They dinna fear aither Iroquois nor
Algonquins, Cree nor Sioux."

" He must have a lot of nerve," said Phil,
pointing to the tent, " to place himself at the
head of a crowd like that. I hope that he and
you may never fall victims to the treachery of
such a crew."

" Dinna be feart," he said, " but he'll keep a
57

The White Chief of the Ottawa

stiff upper han' o' 'em. They'll no verra readily
try to ride ower him."

In the meantime a melancholy scene was
taking place in the tent. Chrissy had signified
her determination to follow in the footsteps of
the sainted Marguerite de Bourgeois, Jogues,
Jean de Br6beuf, and other early Canadian
missionaries, who left the joys of home, the
comforts of civilization, and, penetrating the
back-woods beyond the protecting arms of the
law, beyond the care of sympathetic friends, had
lived and worked and laid down their lives
as a sacrifice in seeking to convert the Indians
to Christianity.

" But," protested George, " you are surely not
going to take the veil like Marguerite de
Bourgeois ? "

" Certainly not."

" You are surely not going to wander off into
the wild woods and lead the life of a squaw, are
you?"

" Not exactly, but I hope to arrange with the
Mission Board of the Dutch Reformed Church in
New York, who are working among the Indians
of Upper Canada, to take me as a teacher."

" But have not the Indians of Lower Canada,

and especially the tribes scattered along your

own river and its tributaries, a greater claim

upon you? If your vow includes nothing less

58

Gay Voyageurs

than martyrdom, the cannibals of the Nipissing
or the Abbitibee tribes would be quite willing
to aid you in carrying out your intentions," he
said, a faint smile creeping over his serious face.
"Chris, dear Chrissy," he said, as he stroked
her soft flaxen hair, " I thought you had ad-
vanced too far in the Christ life to think of
bartering with the Infinite. If He has given
back your mother, receive her as a free gift, not
to be paid for by the sacrifice of your own
precious life, nor by the severing of earthly ties,
but to be received and rejoiced in as a token of
His free grace. Fulfil your vow, my noble girl ;
live for Him, work for Him, die for Him if need
be, but one thing remember, that the highest
destiny of woman lies in adorning the position
God designed for her. It may please self to
sever earthly ties, it may give you an inward
feeling of being under no obligation to the
Hearer and Answerer of prayer — a feeling that
you are even with Him — but you will find that
it is not the true road to happiness. Self is not
your aim, nor is it comfort, nor enjoyment, nor
social ambition ; your chief end and mine is to
glorify God and enjoy Him forever. If that
sweetest of earthly ties formed at Quebec stands
in the way of this, let us sever it here and now."
Tears were chasing each other down Chrissy's
face as he spoke.

59

The White Chief of the Ottawa

Few men can bear to see a woman in tears,
and it was too much for George.

" Chrissy," he said, " don't cry, please, don't ;
but tell me, shall we sever it ? " Her heart was
too full for words, but every line of her face
expressed remonstrance.

He stopped for a moment, as though waiting
for an answer, when suddenly a shout went up
which seemed to rend the very heavens, for it
came from several hundred men. It brought
George Morrison out of his tent in an instant.
The crews of twenty-two large canoes belonging
to the Company and twelve crews of Iroquois
Indians, who were on their return from the
winter hunt, with their families, furs, dogs, etc.,
had just arrived on the scene.

The bark canoes, measuring on an average
thirty-six feet in length by six feet in width
in the middle, which had been carried most
tenderly over the portage on the naked shoulders
of six men, were deposited in a semi-circle up-
side down.

The whole cargo of provisions and furs was
carried in bundles or packs of ninety-five pounds
each by means of pack-straps, called " tump-
lines," arranged so that the middle or broad part
of the strap rested against the forehead ; the
ends securing the load, which rested upon the
shoulders. Each voyageur had one, two or
60

Gay Voyageurs

three of these packs, which they had carried
over the nine-mile portage at a slow trot, with
the knees much bent, stopping for a few
moments every half-hour for "a pipe," as the
rest was called, until at last the landing-place
was reached.

The crew of the second brigade almost out-
rivalled those of the first in their appearance.
They were the most extraordinary-looking
individuals that Chrissy and Phil had ever
beheld ; mostly dark, gipsy-like men in blanket-
coats with borders and sashes of brilliant hue,
and hats with silver bands stuck full of feathers
of a variety and brilliancy of color, all with long
hair to protect their necks and faces from mos-
quitoes.

The clamour, jargoning and confusion of this
wild, impetuous multitude cannot be described.
The commander of the brigade was a Welshman,
David Thompson, with a young Scotchman
named Simon Fraser as assistant, whose names
have been handed down to posterity as the dis-
coverers of the Thompson and the Fraser Rivers.

Thompson was almost as extraordinary in his
appearance as some of the members of his
brigade. Though plainly and quietly dressed,
his black hair was worn long all round and cut
square, as if by one stroke of the scissors, just
above the eyebrows. His figure was short and
61

The White Chief of the Ottawa

thick-set. His complexion was a ruddy brown,
while the expression of his features was friendly
and intelligent. His Bunyan-like hair and short
nose gave him a very odd appearance. He had
a powerful mind and had perfect command of
his crew.

With them was a French priest, who had
secured passage for Montreal in one of the
Company's canoes.

The shout of greeting brought the Chief and
his sons to the landing to see what was the
matter, and they remained interested witnesses
of the gay scene till nearly midnight, when the
din ceased and all were soon asleep — the leaders
in their tents ; the men, some beneath their
upturned canoes, some on blankets or skins
spread on spruce boughs, and some just rolled
in their blankets on the rocks before the fire,
the cooks only remaining up to cook the hominy
for the following day. Hominy was the regular
fare for the voyageurs of the great fur-trading
companies. It was made of dried corn, prepared
by boiling in strong alkali to remove the outer
husk. It was then carefully washed and dried,
when it was fit for use. One quart of this was
boiled for two hours over a moderate fire in a
gallon of water, to which, when boiled, was
added two ounces of melted suet. This caused
the corn to split and form a thick pudding, which
62

Gay Voyageurs

was a wholesome, palatable food, easy of diges-
tion and easy of transportation, one quart being
sufficient for a man's subsistence for twenty-four
hours.

After taking leave of the Chief and Chrissy,
George invited Phil, Bearie, Christie and Rug to
remain all night, most of which was spent in
conversation with the old Factor, who entertained
them with accounts of the discoveries in the
great unknown land.

" Eh, mon," he said, " it is a graund cuintree.
My auld frien' Sandy Mackenzie, when juist a
bit lad, cam' oot frae Inverness tae tak' a posee-
tion wi' Mr. Gregory at Fort Chipewyan, at the
heed o' the Athabasca Lake, in the wild cuintree
wast o" Hudson Bay. Sandy sune got wearied
o' office life, an' got Greegory tae agree to let
him gang explorin' ; that ood be about twenty
years ' sin'. Weel, sir, he took wi' 'im fower
canoes wi' fower Indians an' twa squaws, an' they
left the fort in June. In a week they had gotten
the length o' Slave Lake, as muckle as fower
hunner an' seeventy miles frae the Fort. After
they had stoppit for some days they gaed on
for about three weeks mair, an' gangin' roond
the side of the lake frae the outgoing o' the
river that has been ca'd aifter him, he gaed awa'
doon the river, whar they had an unco time
drawin' their canoes ower the frozen bits 'an
5 63

The White Chief of the Ottawa

gettin' them again intae the open watter, until at
the hinner en' they foond 'oot that it emptit
intae the North Sea."

" Did he see any polar bears ? " asked Rug,
who stood gazing intently at the rugged face of
the speaker.

" Ay, lots o' them. I seen them mysel' in
Davis Strait on the ice-floes comin' doon frae
the North. We used to set a blubber fire
burnin', an' they wad gether roond it, sniffin' an'
smellin', at the bleezin' daintie. We wastit
mony a boolit on them, but they didna seem tae
mind it muckle. When ye cam' on them
withoot waarnin', the only thing that ye could
dae was tae roar oot as lood as ye could an' tae
keep roarin'. Our men whiles triet tae catch
them."

"How? "said Phil.

" They laid a rope wi' a lairge runnin' loop
on the end o't alang the ice, an' laid a seal on't
that had been tostit ower the fire. Verra sune
the bears wad begin tae gether roond it. When
one wad get inside o' the loop the men wad
draw the rope, as the bear wad be hodden by
the legs, than they wad turn the ither en' o' the
rope roon' the capstan an' haul the beast on
board. The growlin' an' the roarin' that resultit
wad mak the hair o' your heed stan' on en'."
64

Gay Voyageors

" Did your friend Mackenzie make any other
discoveries?" asked Bearie.

" Ay, sir," replied the Scot. " He made the
discoverie o' his life, when, three years aifter his
comin' back tae the Fort, he set oot in sairch o'
the Pacific Ocean, and foond it, tae. It was a
thing that nae white mon had ever dune afore
'im, an' I doot if ony ane but Sandy could a
stood the dangers an' deeficulties that he cam'
through, what wi' a sulky crew that nearly
drave him mad an' ither things. He was a
brave, graun' mon, was Sandy. Weel, he left
the Fort in October, an' gangin' up the Ungigah
River, he gaed across the continent till he got
tae the sea the next July, when he inscribed on
the solid cliffs on the shore the fac' o' his dis-
coverie."

Long before sunrise the chief cook gave a
loud and startling shout, " Alerte\" No man
dared linger for forty winks more, for after a
hurried breakfast the North-bound crews shoul-
dered their canoes and packs and commenced
their long and tedious portage, and the return-
crew launched their frail barques, and before
pushing out into the mighty current, twenty
paddlers in each boat — each squatting on his
slender bag of necessaries — the priest pulled off
his hat, and in a loud voice commenced a Latin
65

The White Chfef of the Ottawa

prayer to the saints for a blessing on the voyage,
to which the men responded in chorus.

" Qu'il me benisse."

After which they floated down the stream
singing :

" En roulant ma boule roulant,

En roulant ma boule,
Derri&r chez nous ya t'un etang,

En roulant ma boule,
Trois beaux canards s'en vont baignant,

Rouli, roulant, ma boule roulant."

66

CHAPTER VII.

"A MINISTERING ANGEL, THOU."
1808.

Two years had passed since the interrup-
ted meeting in the tent Not a word had
Chrissy received from her lover. At length a
report reached her, through a passing brigade,
that George Morrison had been sent to the
vicinity of Great Bear Lake to open a trading-
post for his company, and that nothing had
since been heard or seen of him.

Chrissy 's devotion to her absent lover had
grown deeper and stronger as month followed
month. She never felt for an instant that he
was dead to her. She did not think of him
with hopes that were withered, with a tender-
ness frozen ; the man whom she loved never
once became a vague, dreamy idea to her,
for to Chrissy George was a living, bright
reality, who would come some day to fulfil
his promise, when she would at last enter
into the glorious consummation of her heart's
deepest longing. It was this confidence that
cheered and sustained her as she became her
67

The White Chief of the Ottawa

mother's most efficient coadjutor in missions
of mercy and love. It was not an uncommon
sight to see mother and daughter cantering over
the rough woodland roads to distant clearances,
in response to appeals for help from the sick
and sorrowing.

On one occasion the appeal came from
" Aunt " Allen, who lived on one of the back
concession roads. As they approached the
unpretentious but cosy little farm cottage, in
the midst of a field of blackened stumps, Mrs.
Allen came out to meet them.

" Oh, Mrs. Wright," she said, " I'm so thank-
ful you have come. He's nearly mad with pain.
In fact, I think the poor lad is agoin' out of his
mind."

" How did it happen ? " asked Mrs. Wright.

" You see," she said, " He had to sleep out
nights in the woods when he was hauling tim-
ber to the drive, and an insect or somethin'
must have got into his ear, for he could feel it a
movin' and a crawlin' and " .

" What have you done ? " interrupted Mrs.
Wright.

" We made him lie down with his ear on the
pillow, but it was no good. Then we made him
hold his ear down while we struck his head
several hard blows to make it fall out, but it was
no good. Then we put an onion poultice on it
68

u A Ministering: Angel, Thou

to draw it out, but that was no good, and now
we don't know what more to do."

" I fear," said Mrs. Wright sadly, " that I shall
not be much help to you, for my book does not
mention what should be done in a case of that
kind."

11 But, mother," said Chrissy, "we cannot leave
until we have done something. It is dreadful to
see him suffer so."

" Physic will not touch it," she replied, " and
they seem to have done everything that could
be done."

At length Chrissy said :

" I've thought of a plan. Let us hold him
with his head downwards, so that it may have a
chance to drop on the floor ; then let someone
puff tobacco smoke up into the ear, and perhaps
the smoke will cause the insect to become
stupefied and it will fall out."

" Very good," said her mother. " The plan is
worth trying, but who will do the smoking?
There's not a man about the place."

" I'll do it myself," said Chrissy. " You have
a pipe and tobacco, I suppose, Mrs. Allen ? "

" Yes," she replied, " for the lad smokes."

The experiment was tried. Chrissy, kneel-
ing on the clean sanded floor, puffed away
vigorously at the strong old pipe, while her
mother and Mrs. Allen held the young man's
69

The White Chief of the Ottawa

head over the fumes. Soon something dropped
upon the floor, which proved to be a large red
ant, and a shout of triumph went up as Mrs.
Allen jumped upon it and ground it to nothing-
ness. This brought instantaneous relief to the
sufferer, who was very profuse in his expressions
of gratitude.

Poor Mrs. Allen laughed and cried in turn as
they took an affectionate farewell of one another(
but Chrissy's face had an unusually pallid
appearance, which, however, soon faded away as
they galloped down the road to Mrs. Murphy's
cottage.

They found the poor woman on a bed of
suffering, where she had been for three months.

" Is it yersilf that's come, me lady?" she said,
a slight flush of pleasure lighting up the pale,
sad face.

"Yes, Bridget," said Mrs. Wright, "and I
have brought my daughter, whom you have not
seen for a long time."

" Ah, me darlint," she said, grasping Chrissy's
hand, " Moike is a gud husband to me. He has
a big, koind Irish heart, but one night when he
came home he wasn't hisself, Moike wasn't, and
he kicked me and the swate lamb there," point-
ing to a fat dumpling of a baby, "out of the
door, and thin he locked it forninst me, Moike
did ; and I entrated him to let me in, but he
70

A Ministering Angel, Thou"

would not ; so I ran over the shnow through the
fields to Joe Larocque's shanty, and I tuk off me
skurt to roll the wee darlint in, for she was
cryin' with the could, an' I ran to the shanty.
For shure I was in my bare feet, an' when at
last I reached Larocque's he was afeared to let
me come in, he was, an' I prayed him for the
sake o' the Blessed Virgin and all the holy
angels to open the door, an' afther a long toime
he did."

" Poor Moike," she said, with a look of agony
in her face ; " he's a gud man, a gud man, but
he was not hisself — it was the dhrink that
did it"

" There now, Bridget," said Mrs. Wright, "you
have talked enough ; you had better keep quite
still while I remove these bandages."

The odor from the poor frozen hands and feet
was frightful, but patiently and tenderly they
removed the old bandages and applied new
ones, after first saturating them in linseed oil
and lime water. Before they had finished, the
patient, overcome with exhaustion, sank back
into a state of semi-unconsciousness, repeating
the sad words over and over again :

" Poor Moike, he's gud, he's gud ; but he wasn't
hisself."

" I am afraid," whispered Mrs. Wright, " that
mortification has set in. Did you observe that

The White Chief of the Ottawa

she had no feeling in the right foot while we
were dressing it ? Poor soul ! Her sufferings
will soon be over — perhaps to-night"

The tears streamed down Chrissy's face as
she looked first at the poor sufferer, then at the
innocent babe so soon to become motherless.

"I think, mother," she said, "that you had
better leave me with her, for the Larocques can
only come over once a day, and Mike has
evidently no idea of how to take care of a sick
woman, much less a baby. Could you not take
him with you ? Tell him that father wants him,
for he said only this morning that he wanted
more men."

It was finally decided that Chrissy should
remain, and that the grief-stricken husband
should ride her pony as far as the Columbia
farm, where he was to remain until the Chief
should give him leave to return.

It was nearly dark when Mrs. Wright reached
Burns's, where several young men were standing
round the door. Touching their hats respect-
fully to her as she entered, they soon followed
her into a low room, permeated with the sicken-
ing odor of whisky and stale tobacco, where a
young man lay with blackened eyes, a gash over
the left temple, and a broken arm.

"So you've been fighting again, Andrew?"
72

'A Ministering Angel, Thou"

she said,- " I thought after your last scrape that
you would leave Jamaica rum alone."

Andrew was fully convinced in his own mind
that his injuries would ultimately prove fatal,
and his feelings alternated between vengeance
on the one who had proved too strong for him
and an uneasy apprehension of dissolution.

" It was not my fault ; and if ever I lay
hands on that villain again I'll thrash him
within an inch of his life," he hissed through
clenched teeth, his face white with rage ; " I'll
smash every bone in his body. Give me time,
Mrs. Wright, to say a paternoster before you
begin."

" How can you pray, ' Our Father which art in
heaven, hallowed be Thy name,' and drink that
which will cause His name to be profaned and
blasphemed ? " she said. " How can you pray,
'Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done,' and
drink that which will be the greatest hindrance
to the coming of His kingdom and the fulfilment
of His will? How can you pray, 'Give us this
day our daily bread,' and drink that which is
depriving thousands of daily bread ? How can
you pray, ' Forgive us our debts as we forgive
our debtors,' and take that which makes us
unwilling to forgive our debtors ? How can
you pray, ' Lead us not into temptation, but
73

The White Chief of the Ottawa

deliver us from evil,' and drink that which has
proved temptation and evil to so many? I
assure you, Andrew," she said, " that you cannot
say a paternoster and drink strong drink."

Turning to the father of the young man, she
said :

" It is a simple fracture, but it will have to be
set, and it will need a strong man to do it. You
can get a splint while I make the bandages.
There now," she said, " take hold of the hand
and pull it slowly and steadily — this way — see.
Now, are you ready ? "

" Ough ! " groaned the young man. " Ough,
but you're hurtin' me, you're hurtin' me."

" There, now, that was well done," she said,
feeling the spot carefully. " Now give me the
splint."

After she had carefully bandaged the arm,
she said : " There now, are you more comfort-
able?"

" Yes, thank you, ma'am," he replied.

" Now you must remain in bed for a time in
order to give it every chance," she said ; " for
if you go about with it inflammation may set in
and you may lose it. Here is a book which
you may read when the time seems long."

He glanced at the title.

" The Pilgrim's Progress," he said, giving a
sly wink at one of his friends. " Shure an I'll be
74

A Ministering Angel, Thoti"

purty hard up for somethin' to do when I read the
like o' that"

" It is not so bad as it looks, Andrew," she
said, good-naturedly, as she shook hands with
him on leaving.

Soon the messenger of mercy and healing was
flying along the road to Paul Mousseau's shanty,
where she found poor old Paul at the gate in
tears.

"What is the matter, Mousseau?" she said, as
she tied her pony to a tree.

" Le charbon, Madame, le charbon ; ma bonne
femme, I fear she no get well again."

The charbon was a disease which afflicted
many of the French settlers in Canada at that
time. A small black spot would appear on the
body, resembling a piece of charcoal, which soon
spread until the whole body was affected. The
only remedy known was to cut out the affected
part as soon as it appeared. It was supposed
that it was contracted through skinning and eat-
ing the flesh of cadaverous animals.

Paul's shanty contained one large, low, com-
mon room or kitchen with two windows, a fire-
place at one side, one bedroom for the family, with
a loft above, where the older boys slept among all
sorts 01 provender and farm tools, and which was
reached by a ladder. The walls of the room in
which the sick woman lay were adorned with
75

The White Chief of the Ottawa

rude religious pictures, with an earthenware
crucifix, which had attached to it a receptacle
for holy water.

Mrs. Wright shook her head sadly as she
examined the poor woman, and said :

" I fear, Paul, that it has gone too far."

The poor old man fell on his knees, made the
sign of the cross, and gave way to a paroxysm
of tears.

" Ma bonne Katrine ! " he cried ; " Ma bonne
Katrine ! Ah ! Sainte Vierge — no preese — no
messe — ma pauvre femme — ma pauvre femme."

" Paul," said Mrs. Wright, " though you have
no priest and no church you are not shut out
from the Great High Priest — the Lord Himself
Pour out your sorrows to Him and He will hear
and comfort you and save Katrine."

The old man kissed her hand as she took
leave of him, and assisted her to mount her im-
patient pony, which needed no urging to hasten
home, for darkness had come on, and she was
alone in the forest. They were not long in
covering the distance to the Wigwam, where the
children were anxiously awaiting her return.

" Where is Chrissy ? " asked Phil, who was
cleaning his gun and was evidently having great
difficulty in the effort to extricate the ramrod
from the barrel.

" She is going to sit up to-night with poor
76

"A Ministering Angel, Thou"

Mrs. Murphy," said his mother, " who will prob-
ably not live through the night."

" Jee-roo-salem ! " exclaimed Phil, " and what
can a girl like Chrissy do for a dying woman ? "

" She could read a verse of Scripture or one
of the beautiful prayers of the Prayer Book,"
said his mother, softly.

" It's all rot," he said, " the whole Bible is
utter foolishness from cover to cover."

" Exactly what the Bible says of itself," said
his mother. "It says that ' The preaching of
the Cross is to them that perish foolishness,' and
if it is foolishness to you, my dear boy, it is
because you are perishing. St. Paul told the
truth when he said, ' The natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are
foolishness to him, neither can he know them, for
they are spiritually discerned.' You have not a
nature capable of grasping the spiritual. ' You
must be born again.' "

" Don't quote Scripture at me, for I tell you
that I don't believe one word of it," said Phil.

" If you could have seen what I have seen this
day you would not be such a trifler, my boy."

" I'm not trifling, mother," he said. " I am
quite serious about it. I am not proud, as some
are, of being a sceptic, but I cannot believe as
you and Chris do." Observing tears in his
mother's eyes, he added, slowly, " I wish I could."
77

The Wliitc Chief of the Ottawa

" There is but one way," she replied, " out of
the fog of scepticism into the light of faith, and
it is the narrow way of obedience. ' If any man
will do his will he shall know of the doctrine
whether it be of God.' If you want to believe,
my boy, give up your self-will and promise me
that you will try honestly to find out what God's
will is concerning you, that you may do it, and
your scepticism will soon take wings."

" But," said Phil, " I would like to have some
proof that there is a God before I begin to find
out what His will is. Every sense that I have
bears me out in believing that there is no God.
I have never seen a God, nor heard one ; I have
never smelt, tasted, nor felt one."

" You may not have felt that there is a God,
but I have," said his mother, " and I delight to
pour forth my very soul to Him whom I know
exists, and whom I am satisfied to believe in
without proofs save such as I obtain from my
own inner consciousness."

" And is the testimony of that one sense of
feeling sufficient to convince you that there is a
God? "said Phil.

" It is," replied his mother.

" Well," he added, thoughtfully, " the odds are
against you four to one."

Approaching her first-born the mother laid
her hand on his shoulder, and said :
78

"A Ministering Angel, Thou"

" Tell me, my boy, did you ever see a pain ? "

" No," he replied.

" Did you ever hear a pain ? "

" No."

" Did you ever smell a pain ? "

" No."

" Did you ever feel a pain ? "

" Yes," he unwillingly admitted.

" And was the testimony of that one sense
sufficient to convince you of the existence of
pain ? "

" Yes," he replied.

" And the testimony of that same sense has
convinced me," she said, " not only of the exist-
ence, but of the presence and love, of God."

" Well, mother," said Phil, who shuffled about
uneasily, " I have seen so many hypocrites among
Church members that I, for one, do not wish to be
classed with them. There was Tom Adams, one
of Mr. Meach's favorites, who was always in his
seat at the meeting-house, who would not shave
on Sunday, but had no conscience about shaving
us six days in the week. He would not blacken
his boots on Sunday, but he did not hesitate to
blacken the character of any man in the settle-
ment who disagreed with him in anything, on
Sunday or any other day."

" The very existence of hypocrites is a proof
of the existence of a reality," said Mrs. Wright,
6 79

The White Chief of the Ottawa

" for if you should happen to find a counterfeit
coin it would need no argument to convince you
that it was copied from a genuine one. There
are genuine Christians as well as counterfeits,
and the omniscient and omnipresent God knows
the one from the other ; and as hypocrites have
not the faintest chance of heaven, you had better
beware, dear boy, lest you should be ' classed
with hypocrites' throughout the never-ending
ages of eternity."

Phil's scepticism was a crushing grief to his
mother and sister, who set themselves resolutely
to win him to the faith with the full force of
their intellects. They read, they pleaded, they
wrote, they argued, they reasoned. As time
went on their best efforts seemed frustrated, and,
when at length they seemed to come to the end
of all their resources, both cast themselves in
utter despair upon God and prayed as only a
mother and sister can. Nor did they pray in
vain, for the time came when he found his way
out of the darkness into the light of truth.

80

CHAPTER VIII.

CONVENT DAYS.
1806.

ABBIE, who was the very reverse of her sister
in appearance and disposition, still remained in
the convent, the seclusion of which had not
transformed her into a religious recluse — rather
the reverse. Her association with gay daughters
of wealthy Seigneurs and others had the effect
of deepening her love of adventure and romance-

Sally Smith continued to be her most inti-
mate friend, and any holidays, which in those
days were few and far between, were spent at
the Citadel.

One evening a young officer called, and dur-
ing the absence of her mother from the room
Sally said, her eyes dancing with mischief:
" Let me introduce you to my friend, Miss
Wabisca Onodis, Lieutenant Randall. Miss
Onodis," she continued, " is the daughter of an
Algonquin Chief, and is a boarder at the
convent"

" Aw, indeed," said the officer, " I should never
81

The White Chief of the Ottawa

have dreamed that your friend was an Indian
girl. Have you had much difficulty in acquiring
a knowledge of English ? " asked the lieutenant.

"Not at all," replied Abbie, "I understand
everything that is said, but find difficulty at
times in choosing words best fitted to give ex-
pression to my deepest emotions."

" Aw, I quite understand. They say that the
Indian nature is much more intense than that of
other civilized nations. What is exceedingly
difficult even for an Englishman must be much
more so for one of your temperament. No
language, I believe, either written nor spoken,
can convey any adequate idea of the emotion of
love, for instance. Is that your experience, Miss
Onodis ? "

Just then Mrs. Smith entered, and the con-
versation turned to that perennial subject — the
weather. The friendship thus formed soon
ripened into more than a mere friendship. Fre-
quent messages passed between the convent and
the Citadel, messages in cypher, for Therese, an
Indian girl, had furnished Abbie with a list of
Algonquin words and phrases expressive of
deep sentiment, which were quite unintelligible
to the nuns, and as the officer was furnished
with a similar vocabulary, messages were fre-
quently carried by Sally between the two.

This went on for some time until the nuns
82

Convent Days

found a scrap of paper on the floor containing
the following mysterious words :

Nitam shaquoi yanque kitchioni chishim
Kin mishiwaiasky nin
Othai icha quisco.
Ka qui nick kit ay am.

Wabisca Onodis.

After matins the Mother Superior addressed
about two hundred young women in the As-
sembly Hall in the following words :

"Young ladies, a very mysterious letter has
been found. It is evidently in the Indian lan-
guage. It is probably intended for one of our
Indian young ladies. Did anyone present lose
a letter?"

No one spoke.

"O'Jawa," said the superior, addressing a
young Indian girl, " will you come forward and
see if this letter is written in one of the Iroquois
or one of Algonquin dialects ? "

O'Jawa promptly came up the aisle, and
scanning the paper, said :

" It is Algonquin, Mother."

" To whom is it addressed ? "

" To no one, Mother," she replied.

" By whom is it signed ? "

" By a White Chief, Mother."

" Please translate it," said the Mother Superior.
83

The White Chief of the Ottawa

O'Jawa read slowly and deliberately :

" First — last — and best,
Thou art all the world to me.
My heart burns.

" Always yours,

" WHITE CHIEF."

" This letter," continued the Mother Superior,
' evidently belongs to one of the Algonquin girls,
who probably has been receiving secret missives
of a similar nature from some white man. As
you are aware, young ladies, this offence is.
punishable with expulsion. Deceit is the mother
of all vices. The sisters cannot assume the
responsibility of the care of any young lady who
would deliberately deceive them in this way ;
therefore I am under the painful necessity of
investigating this matter more fully. Therese,
come forward, Your guilty face indicates that
you were the recipient of this letter. Were you ?"

" I was not, Mother."

"Then it was sent to you and the bearer
dropped it before you saw it. Is not that the
case ? "

" I do not know, Mother."

"Have you ever received any communications
of this nature before ? "

" I have not, Mother."

" Do you know any White Chief? "
84

Convent Days

" I do not, Mother."

"Do you know for whom this missive was
intended ? "

Therese hesitated. The question was repeated.

" I do, Mother," she said.

" Do you know by whom it was written ? "

Taking the letter in her hand she said, slowly :

" I do, Mother."

" Then, Therese, I must demand the names of
both the sender and the intended recipient."

" Who wrote that letter ? "

" I shall not tell," she said, slowly and with
great determination.

" I shall give you five minutes to answer my
question, Therese, and if you stubbornly persist
in concealing these facts from me I shall declare
you expelled."

There was silence in the hall — not a soul
stirred. Therese stood calmly awaiting her
doom, when suddenly there was a shuffling at
the back of the hall and Abbie came forward
and addressed the Superior :

" I wrote that letter. It was intended for a
young officer at the Citadel. If you are going
to expel anyone, expel me."

The Mother Superior hesitated. She looked
at Abbie, then at Therese, and said, solemnly :

" Insubordination and deceit must not go un-
punished. I shall communicate all the circum-
85

The "White Chief of the Ottawa

stances of the case to your parents. The classes
may now go to their respective class-rooms."

A few days later Abbie was summoned to
the reception room, and was much surprised to
find her father and her brother Bearie in con-
sultation with the Mother Superior. They had
just arrived with a raft of timber — the first raft
from the Ottawa — and had come to arrange
with the nuns to have Abbie spend the evening
with them. The Chief looked very grave as he
tried to decipher the tattered letter which the
Mother Superior translated to him. He said :

" Abbie is a giddy, foolish, light-hearted girl,
whose spirits often carry her beyond bounds. I
shall be returning to the Utawas in a few days
and shall take her home with me. She will be
safe at home," he said, as the Mother tried to
dissuade him from his purpose.

" Now that your daughter is on restriction of
leave she will be perfectly safe with us. We
make an exception, of course, in the case of
parents taking their daughters out"

No sooner had they emerged from the stone
walls of the convent than Abbie related the
whole affair to her father, who reproved her for
her folly and gave her what is rarely appreciated,
sound, fatherly advice.

On reaching the hotel Bearie introduced to
his sister an awkward, bashful youth named
86

Convent Days

Thomas Brigham, who had come down with
them on the raft.

" What part of the backwoods do you come
from ? " she asked, coldly.

" From the township of Hull," he responded.

" Did you ever see a city before ? "

" Well, no, I cannot say that I have, except
Montreal and Three Rivers," he replied, as he
scraped the mud off his long boots with his
pocket knife.

" I thought not," she said.

Her father moved uneasily in his seat on
observing the embarrassment of the young man,
and said, gravely :

" Thomas is not as rough as he looks. He is
one of the ablest young men in the settlement.
He may lack the veneer of an officer, but you
will find as the years go on that there is no
discount on Thomas."

So saying, he arose from the table, and, taking
his hat from the rack, said : " Come, let us walk
out and see something of the city."

They were coming up St. Peter Street. Abbie
was laughing and jesting with Bearie, when they
came face to face with Lieutenant Randall.

" Let me introduce you to my brother,
Lieutenant Randall," said Abbie. " And this is
my father," she said, mischievously.

" Aw, I am awfully pleased to meet you, sir,"
87

The White Chief of the Ottawa

he said, with a perplexed and bewildered
expression on his face.

He then turned to Bearie and said : " It is
difficult to determine sometimes when Miss
Onodis is in jest and when in earnest. She led
me to believe that she was the daughter of an
Indian chief, and the truth is only now beginning
to dawn upon me."

"You have not been misinformed," said
Bearie. " My father has the honor to be Chief
of one of the Algonquin tribes of the Utawas,
but why do you not call my sister by her right
name ? "

" Aw, pardon me — pardon me ! I did not
understand, of course. I am to address your
sister in future as

" Miss Wright," said Bearie.

The young lieutenant became a frequent
visitor at the hotel while the Chief was
negotiating sales of lumber, and had kindly
undertaken to assist him in securing an
Englishman qualified to fill the position of
bookkeeper and tutor to the younger children.

Several weeks passed. All business arrange-
ments having been concluded, Abbie was taken
from the convent preparatory to leaving for
home, when the young officer approached the
Chief and said :

" I have been earnestly hoping for an oppor-
88

Convent Days

tunity of seeing you privately, sir, with reference
to your daughter, whose hand I desire to seek in
marriage."

" My daughter is not eligible for marriage,"
replied the Chief, with a twinkle in his eye, " as
she is pledged, provisionally, to one of the chiefs
of our tribe."

"I cannot think that Ab Miss Wright

has led me on only to disappoint me at last.
Have you any reason to believe that her engage-
ment with the Chief is an affair of the heart ?"

The conversation was interrupted by the
entrance of Bearie, who proposed that they
should walk out to the square and watch the
setting sun.

Abbie and Bearie tried to outrival each other
in relating anecdotes and incidents of interest
which had taken place during the interval of
absence from each other, in the vain hope of
arousing the interest of their military friend, who
sat on the end of a bench twirling his swagger
stick nervously.

" There was an Indian girl in the convent,"
said Abbie, " who was engaged to be married to
one of her own tribe, and a few days before the
wedding we took up a collection among the girls
and bought her a trousseau. It consisted of a
very stylish poke bonnet trimmed wfth ostrich
tips, a purple Irish poplin dress with ten flounces
89

The White Chief of the Ottawa

bound with black velvet, a black lace shawl and
a liberal supply of underclothing. The poor
girl was immensely pleased with the gift, and
wore a perpetual grin from the time it was
presented to her till she left.

" The day after the wedding the young bride-
groom was seen parading the streets dressed in
the bride's clothes. The ribbons of her bonnet
were roughly twisted under his chin, the lace
shawl hung over one shoulder, the hoopskirts
were wabbling about in a most extraordinary
manner. He seemed much pleased with the
amusement it created and laughed as heartily
as any of the crowd. His love of adornment
had so triumphed over his new-found affection
that he left his dusky bride disrobed to weep
over it."

"Take heed, take heed, Miss Wright, lest a
similar fate be yours," said the young officer.

Abbie looked puzzled, but made no response.
" Tell us something about your experiences on
the way down," she said, addressing her brother,
whom she had seen but once since his arrival.

" We were seven weeks coming down on the
raft."

" A raft— a raft ? What is that ? " interrupted
the officer.

" It is an immense flotilla," said the Chief,
" made up of numerous sections or cribs of
90

Convent Days

timber, lashed together by green withes, which
are easily detached from the main flotilla or raft,
and which are capable of being rowed by long
rude oars. We constructed on one of these
cribs a sandy hearth, above which we made a
roof with no walls, which served as a protection
from rain. Six little cabins, not unlike dog-
kennels, were formed of broad strips of bark, in
which each man found a bed. As we drifted
down the river cheer after cheer went up from
the settlers who had gathered on the point to
see us off."*

" All went well until we reached the Carillon
Rapids. We succeeded in getting nineteen
cribs over safely, and Martin and Bearie were
steering the next, when a gale sprang up from
the south and it blew them so near to the north
shore at the head of the bay that Captain John-
son, whom we hired to help us over the rapids,
thought best to send a canoe to take them off,
but he was too late to overtake them. You had
better tell the rest of the story," he said, turning
to Bearie, who sat with his hands in his pockets
leaning against a tree.

" We got through the first chute all right,"
said Bearie, " but the wind blew us on to the

* In the list of provisions for the journey the Chief mentions,
in his diary of June nth, 1806, " The bread of 3^ bushels of
wheat £i 6s. 3d.

91

The White Chief of the Ottawa

rapids above Green Island and the crib stuck
on the rocks. We worked all day to get her off,
but it was no use. At last there was a creak
and a crash, and the whole thing went to
' smithereens.' One stick only remained on the
rock, with Martin clinging to one end and me to
the other. It worked like a ' see-saw ' ; when
Martin came up I went down, and when I came
up Martin went down. Though my eyes, ears,
nose and mouth were full of water, I managed
to call out, —

" ' Ough, Martin ; how do you like that ? '
" Then Martin went up and I went under, and
he called out :

" ' How do you like it yourself, youngster ? '
" At length they got us off by throwing a rope
from a point above and letting it float down to
where we were. I managed to get hold of it
first and tied it round my waist, and it was all
I could do to keep my head above water in the
raging torrent. I was not sorry, as you may
imagine, to see a boat put out from Barren's
Point to pick me up. They tried the same plan
with Martin, and got him off safely, too.

" When we came to the head of the Sault we
had to hire some Indians from Caughnawaga,"
continued Bearie. " They could not speak Eng-
lish, and we could not understand much French
so father wrote down in his note-book a good
92

d

a
•6

a

§

Convent Days

many words which he spelt according to the
sound, and with the supposed meaning attached
to each word. In this way he soon had a
number of words, phrases and sentences which
he at once began to use. He found it very hard
to get some words, and the Indians often looked
very bewildered when he spoke to them. He
tried for a long time to find out the word for
' pike-pole,' and at length decided that it must
be ' Am-chee-brin! He used the word all
the way to Quebec before discovering that it
meant ' Un petit brinl a common expression
among the French-Canadians, meaning 'a little."'

" But that was not the worst," said the Chief.
" When we came to Bastican we went to a Post-
house* for dinner, and the ' bonne femme ' intro-
duced with great pride her only child, a black-
eyed boy of about two.

" ' Cest un bon petit crapeau, madame} I ven-
tured to remark, patting the boy on the head
and thinking that I was paying a great compli-
ment.

" But I saw at once, by the angry expression
on the woman's face, that I had made a great
mistake, which was afterwards explained by one
of the men on the drive, who said that it meant,

* Not a post-office, bat an inn with livery attached,
under Government inspection, with fixed tariff of rates per mile
for hire of horses for travellers.

93

The White Chief of the Ottawa

' That is a nice little toad, madam.' We were
a long time trying to find out the meaning of
Puck-a-pab, and were amazed when they told us
on reaching here that it meant 'Pas capable}
' not able.' "

" I find it exceedingly difficult," remarked the
officer, " to understand the language of the
habitants, though I studied French with an
excellent tutor."

" We had a terrific storm while anchored at
Pointe aux Trembles," said Bearie. " The sky
grew densely black ; every moment broad zig-
zag flashes lighted up the dark, angry-looking
water. Father and I were on shore, and we
crawled beneath a large upturned tree root to
keep dry, for the rain soon began to fall in
torrents. It was well we did, for the hurricane
swept the masts, tents, cabins, and even the roof
of the caboose away down stream, and scattered
the cribs in all directions. We were three days
looking for lost timber and repairing damages."

" I should not omit to tell you of our experience
at the Long Sault We were thirty-six days
getting through the rapids. The habitants shook
their heads and shrugged their shoulders and
said : ' II n'est pas possible (It is not possible) ;
what has never been can never be, and the man
who would attempt such a thing is a fool.'

" While camping there one evening we met a
94

Convent Days

priest and some Frenchmen who were on their
way to one of the back settlements. The priest
was not a bad fellow. He spoke good English
and was very kind and affable, and he invited us
to go with him and his party to see the site of
an old French palisade fort, which he called the
Thermopylae of Canada, and where, he said, the
most daring deed ever attempted on this conti-
nent took place nearly one hundred and fifty
years ago."

" Tell us about it," said the officer.

" You tell about it, father," said Bearie.

" It is a long story," replied the Chief, " but I
shall try to tell it as briefly as possible. The
priest said that the French colonists had suffered
much from the cruelty of the Iroquois tribes, who
had decided to destroy the whole French colony-
A Mohegan Indian told the French that eight
hundred Indian warriors were encamped near
Montreal, and would soon be joined by four
hundred more from the Uttawas, and that they
had planned to take Quebec, kill the Governor,
burn up the town, massacre the inhabitants »
after which they would proceed to do the same
with Three Rivers and Montreal.

" A young officer named Daulac, who was in

command of the garrison at Montreal, proposed

to entrap them on their way down the Ottawa

and fight them. Sixteen young fellows from

7 95

The "White Chief of the Ottawa

Montreal volunteered to go with him. They
did not know much about canoeing, for they
were a whole week in attempting to pass the
swift current at St. Anne, at the head of the
Island of Montreal. In the meantime they
were overtaken by forty Hurons and several
Christian Algonquins. When they saw the
rushing, foaming waters of the Sault they
decided to go no farther, for they knew that the
Iroquois were sure to pass there. He pointed
out a spot just below the rapids, where the
woods slope gently down to the shore, where an
old Algonquin palisade fort stood. ' It was,' he
said, ' a mere enclosure of trunks of trees planted
in a circle.' In a few days they saw two Iro-
quois canoes coming down the Sault Daulac
and his men hid behind the bushes and, as they
landed, shot all but one, who escaped and fled
through the forest to the main body.

" ' Suddenly,' said the priest, ' a fleet of canoes
filled with Iroquois came bounding down the
rapids. Soon as they landed they smashed the
bark canoes of the French, and, kindling the
bark, ran up to set fire to the palisade. Three
times they attempted to storm the little fort, but
were driven back by the deadly fire of the small
garrison. Their rage was unbounded. They
sent word to five hundred of their tribe, who
were camped at the mouth of the Richelieu, to
96

Convent Days

come to their aid. This so frightened the
Hurons that they deserted and betrayed the
smallness of their force to the enemy, who ad-
vanced with yells, firing as they came on. But
again they had to fall back, owing to the deadly
fire of the French. The latter held out for three
days, and the Iroquois were on the verge of
giving up the siege when they resolved to make
one last attempt They made large, heavy
shields, four or five feet high, by lashing together
three split logs fastened together with cross bars.
Under cover of these they advanced, reached
the palisade, and, crouching below the range of
shot, hewed furiously with their axes until they
cut their way through. Daulac filled a large
musketoon with powder, and after plugging up
the muzzle attached a fuse, and tried to throw it
over the palisade, but it fell back among the
French and exploded, killing and wounding
several and blinding others.

" ' In the confusion that followed the Iroquois
got possession. All was soon over. Daulac
was the first killed, and a burst of triumphant
yells went up from the savages. Five of the
heroic defenders escaped and brought the news
to Montreal. It proved the salvation of our
French colonists in Canada,' continued the priest,
' for they felt that if seventeen white men could
hold seven hundred warriors at bay so long in
97

The White Chief of the Ottawa

an old palisade like that, there would be no
chance of capturing walled towns like Quebec
and Montreal.' "

"If that is true," said the officer, thoughtfully,
" the French must have more nerve than I ever
gave them credit for."

" It was a daring deed," said the Chief, who
walked off with Thomas, leaving the others to
follow.

98

CHAPTER IX.

THE NE W TUTOR.
1806.

THE Chief had been detained in Quebec
several days longer than he intended, awaiting a
schooner, when a stranger approached him and
said :

" Pardon me, sir, but I have a note here from
Lieutenant Randall."

Breaking the seal, the Chief read as follows :

THE CITADEL, August ;th, 1806.
P. WRIGHT, Esq.

DEAR SIR, — This will introduce to you Harold
Wrenford, an old school friend from Wilton, England,
who has just arrived and is seeking employment. He
has references from his rector and others which would
indicate that he is well fitted for the position of tutor,
which I believe you wish to fill.

Wishing you and Miss Wright a bon voyage. — Believe
me, sir,

Yours very sincerely,

WM. RANDALL.

The young Englishman was about the same
height as the officer, but, unlike his friend, had
99

The "White Chief of the Ottawa

a clean shaven face and dark auburn hair, which
came almost to his shoulders. The expression
of his face when in repose was pensive. An air
of refinement distinguished his voice and manner.
His general appearance and testimonials created
a most favorable impression on the Chief, and
the two were not long in coming to terms of
agreement. A few hours later they were stem-
ming the mighty current of the St. Lawrence
in a small schooner, en route for Montreal, where
the Colombo, a flat-bottomed bateau, was wait-
ing to take them to their destination.

The advent of the tutor proved a most
important event in the history of the backwoods
settlement, and marked the beginning of a new
era. Though courteous and obliging to the
Chief and his family, he ever manifested a cool
reserve to the neighbors, which made him most
unpopular among them. They would call at
the office, pay their accounts, and depart with-
out a word of friendly greeting, or even of
common courtesy.

Some regarded the tutor as a recluse with
very exaggerated ideas of his own importance.
Others looked upon him with suspicion, and
whispered that he was probably the son of a
nobleman in England who had committed a
crime and had to flee the country. A general
feeling of dislike began to manifest itself, which
100

The New Tutor

was intensified by the fact that the Chief, who
had always been geniality itself, became almost
inaccessible to them. When they would
call at the Wigwam to discuss current events
they invariably found him engaged with Wren-
ford. When they would call at the office in
hope of hearing something of the outside world
— for newspapers rarely reached the township
at that time, and the Chief was the only link
between them and civilization — the ubiquitous
Wrenford was ever intruding and diverting the
Chief's attention.

Nor were the neighbors alone in feeling that
they had lost a friend. The sons began to realize
that the young Englishman was determined to
have the sole monopoly of their father's society.
From early childhood they had been the
inseparable companions of their father. Rarely
did he enter upon any new enterprise without
first discussing it with them in all its bearings ;
but, since the new regime, their father's plans
and projects were generally communicated to
them through the tutor. Even Mrs. Wright
had cause to regret the advent of the new tutor,
for she was not slow to observe a growing
apathy in her husband to the Sunday service in
the little congregational meeting-house.

The basis of union between the Chief and
the tutor was not altogether unintelligible, and
101

The White Chief of the Ottawa

was not as unreasonable as the family seemed
to think. It was founded upon mutual
interests, strengthened by mutual assistance.
The tutor wrote a good hand, the Chief a very
poor one, having lost the use of his right hand
through an injury. The tutor had a natural
talent for making out estimates and accounts.
He had a kind of information which had been
gleaned from centres of civilization which was
helpful to the Chief, who had spent years in the
seclusion of the settlement.

Months passed. Unknown to any one, Wren-
ford often imagined what his life would be if
Abbie could be induced to love him. This one
thought, fervent and strong within him, filled
him with constancy of purpose. Through all
the duties of life this purpose inspired him, but
any advances that he ventured to make were
met with a cool reserve, which repelled him.
He strove against the cruel wounds in his heart,
and sought by every art in his power to win
her.

It was evident to all in the family circle that
Abbie had become a changed girl since her stay
in Quebec. Cheerfulness had always been her
chief characteristic. Peals of laughter and
French and English songs, with choruses,
could be heard wherever she presided. Even
in the poultry yard her rich fund of humor

102

The New Tutor

manifested itself in the naming of her feath-
ered flock. A bronze turkey, stately and
dignified, was addressed as Chief Mache-
cawa ; a big Brahma cock, who held his head
above the others, she called " Harold the
Great ; " while another cock, almost as gay
and proud in appearance, and who manifested
a decided antipathy to the Brahma, was designa-
ted as " Thomas a Becket ; " while still another
was " William the Conqueror." All these crea-
tures had distinct personalities and dispositions of
their own, and were called after noted historical
characters whose first names corresponded to
those of her numerous suitors whom they were
supposed to resemble. Like Bearie, her stories
of bygone days were the product of a shrewd
mind, a keen sense of humor, and a clear
memory. She disliked housework and fancy-
work, and all kinds of systematic work except
weaving. When set to tease wool, every hard
and knotty tuft was tossed into the fire. When
stockings were given her to darn, she ran a
gathering string round each hole and drew it
together regardless of the discomfort of the
wearer. She liked weaving. It was the only
work she did like, and it fell to her lot con-
sequently to supply the house with flannel and
linen. The coarse but snowy table covers
Abbie had spun and woven with her own hands
103

The White Chief of the Ottawa

from flax grown on the farm. The boys' shirts
were made by her from the wool of their own
sheep. Few women of the settlement could
outrival her in the lost art, for she could make
between forty and fifty yards of flannel in a
week.

Since her visit to Quebec much of Abbie's
buoyancy seemed to have faded from her life.
Her eye had lost much of its animation. Her
step had lost its sprightliness.

" If Abbie had remained in the convent
another month," said Christie to his mother,
"you would never have seen her again except
with a black veil and through iron bars. In
fact, it would not surprise me if she has not
even now serious intentions of taking the veil."

Bearie suspected the true cause of the melan-
choly state of mind into which his sister had
fallen, but said nothing.

By night and by day there remained with her
a vision of a tall, handsome young man, with
flaxen hair and moustache — a rare appendage
in those days — dressed in the gay uniform of a
British officer, with its large epaulets, queer
cocked hat, knee-breeches, buckled shoes, and
with polished sword dangling by his side — an
officer as gay as his uniform.

" Why have so many letters remained unan-
swered ? " she mused. " He seemed almost over-
104

The New Tutor

whelmed with emotion when we parted. I feel
convinced that nothing but my father's presence
prevented him from pouring forth a passionate
farewell. His hand trembled as it touched mine.
How tender, how embarrassed he seemed when
he attempted to express his last words. Why,
oh ! why does he not write ? "

Disappointment was overshadowing her life.
She was not aware that her father had rejected
him as a suitor, and there had stolen into her
mind solemn wonderings and hopes that some-
time, somewhere, the deepest longings of her
heart might be realized. She- had nothing
against Harold Wrenford. On the contrary,
she saw much in him to admire. His English
voice and manner reminded her in many ways
of Randall's. Notwithstanding his unpopularity
with the neighbors and her brothers, her soft
heart and susceptible spirit were well calculated
to respond to the slight ebullitions of tender
regard which he had on several occasions ven-
tured to manifest, but which she ever resented.

Wrenford held to his purpose, unsuspected
and unaided, with as much tenacity as Abbie
held to hers.

105

CHAPTER X.

TOBACCO OFFERINGS.
1808.

IT was a beautiful moonlight evening in
August. A shadowy haze lingered over the
river, which glistened and sparkled in the moon-
light The Chief and several members of his
family were seated on the beach in front of the
Wigwam listening to the Honorable Joseph
Papineau, who, with his son, Louis Joseph, had
come up in a canoe to see the falls. The former
had recently purchased from Bishop Laval the
unsettled seigniory of Petit Nation, and had
erected an unpretentious cottage, which he occu-
pied during the summer months.

"It was a lovely vision," said Mr. Papineau,
who had just performed the feat of canoeing to
the foot of the Chaudiere Falls for the first time.
" On our return we climbed the rugged cliff on
the south side, and never shall I forget the
panorama that spread out before us. The sun,
sinking slowly behind the Laurentian hills, had
clothed himself with a robe of splendor. The
long reflections lay soft on the waters of the
106

D _•

<

.

Tobacco Offerings

river below. The clouds of ascending mist from
the Chaudiere took a thousand shades of color
as the western sky faded slowly from crimson
into gold and from gold to green and gray, and
finally displayed dark shapes, out of which
imagination might well have formed a thousand
monsters.*

" As we watched the gathering shadows my
thoughts went back two hundred years, to the
time when Champlain went on his first trip up
the ' Riviere des Algoumequins,' as he called it
About two years before he took the trip he sent
Nicholas de Vignan, a young Frenchman, up
the river with some friendly Indians, and
Nicholas had returned with the marvellous story
that he had reached the North Sea. He said
that the journey could be made in a few days.
He also gave an account of having seen the
wreck of an English ship.

" Champlain was completely taken in, and lost
no time in starting off to verify the discovery
for which the world had been looking for some
time. His fleet consisted of two canoes with

* Louis Joseph, afterwards known as the Demosthenes of
Canada, and who almost succeeded in making Canada a Repub-
lic, with himself as President, was evidently much impressed
with the scene, which he described as follows : ' ' Le soleil etait
pret decendre sous 1'horison, la mureille tout limpide etait d'une
transparence vivre, tout penetree de lumiere vaguement
prismatisee"."

107

The White Chief of the Ottawa

two Indians and three Frenchmen, one of whom
was De Vignan. It was in May, when the river
was at its height. When they reached the
Gatineau the Indians told him that their tribe
were often compelled to conceal themselves
amid the hills of the Upper Gatineau from their
dreaded enemies, the Iroquois. When Cham-
plain beheld the twin curtain falls yonder, ' like
a slow dropping veil of the thinnest lawn,' he
exclaimed, ' Le Rideau ! Le Rideau ! ' The
Indians told him that the waters formed an
arcade under which they delighted to walk, and
where they were only wet by the spray. As
they rounded the lofty headland opposite he
saw the cloud of mist rising from the falls, which
the Indians called the 'Asticou,' which means
' Chaudiere ' in French, or ' kettle ' in English,
for the water has worn out a deep basin into
which it rushes with a whirling motion which
boils up in the midst like a kettle.

"You have probably been close enough to
have seen it, Madame ? " he said, addressing
Mrs. Wright

" No," she replied, " I have always been too
timid to venture so near to it in a canoe."

" Champlain said," continued Mr. Papineau,

" that he paddled as near as possible to the falls,

when the Indians took the canoes and the

Frenchmen and himself carried their arms and

108

Tobacco Offerings

provisions. He described with great feeling the
sharp and rugged rocks of the portages to pass
the falls and rapids until at last, in the afternoon,
they embarked upon the peaceful waters of a
lake where, he said, there were very beautiful
islands filled with vines and with walnut and
other agreeable trees."

" There are no walnuts on the islands of Lake
Chaudiere," interrupted Bearie, " I am quite
sure."

" He probably saw a butternut tree," said
young Louis Joseph, "and thought it produced
walnuts."

" Champlain's journey came to an abrupt close
a few days afterwards," said Mr. Papineau,
"when he reached Allumette Island, about
seventy miles farther up the river. There was
a large settlement of friendly Algonquins, called
' Les Sauvages de 1' Isle,' and Champlain tried to
obtain several canoes and guides to proceed
farther. They, however, had their own com-
mercial reasons for keeping the French from the
upper country, and they warned him of the
danger of meeting the terrible tribe of the
Sorcerers. Champlain said that De Vignan had
passed through all these dangers. The head
Chief then said to the impostor :

" ' Is it true that you have said that you have
been among the Sorcerers ? '
109

The White Chief of the Ottawa

" After a long pause he said : ' Yes, I've been
there.'

" The Indians at once threw themselves upon
him with fierce cries as if they would have torn
him to pieces, and the Chief said :

" ' You are a bold liar. You know that every
night you slept by my side with my children.
How have you the impudence to tell your chief
such lies ? '

" The upshot was that Champlain returned
down the Ottawa, followed by an escort of fifty
canoes.

" When the party reached the Chaudiere the
savages, he said, performed their mystic rites.
After having carried their canoes to the foot of
the Falls, they gathered in a certain spot where
one of them, provided with a wooden dish,
passed it round, and each one placed in the dish
a piece of tobacco.

" The collection finished, the dish was placed in
the midst of the band and all danced around it,
chanting after their fashion. Then one of the
chiefs delivered a harangue, explaining that from
olden times they had always made such an
offering, and that by this means they are pro-
tected from their enemies and saved from
misfortune, for so the devil persuades them.
Then the same chief took the dish and proceeded
to throw the tobacco into the Chaudiere, amid

"The Chief proceeded to throw the tobacco into the Chaudiere."

—p. no.

Tobacco Offerings

the loud shoutings of the band. ' They are so
superstitious,' said Champlain, ' that they do
not believe that they can make a safe journey if
they have not performed this ceremony in this
particular place.'

" Ah, Monsieur," Mr. Papineau continued,
" it stirred my soul as I stood on that rocky
cliff and thought of how many canoes of
heroic missionaries, Indian braves and cheery
voyageurs have paddled these waters and torn
their feet on the rocky shores, going, some of
them to death and some to tortures worse than
death. As we drifted down with the current in
the moonlight the gentle breeze in the pines
along the shore seemed to be whispering sad
tales of other days."

Mr. Papineau, who had spoken with such
animation and fluency, relapsed into silence for
several minutes, then, rousing himself, said, with
even greater enthusiasm and vigor :

" Providence has crowned our lives with great
blessing since the heroic Daulac struck the
death-blow to the power of the Iroquois in this
country, and since the English undertook the
responsibility of its government. Though I am
proud of the fact that every bone and muscle,
nerve and sinew within me is French, though I
dearly love my Mother Country and my fellow
countrymen, I have no hesitation in making the
8 in

The White Chief of the Ottawa

solemn assertion that our country has enjoyed a
greater degree of prosperity under the new
regime than it ever did under the old. But it
must ever be remembered that much of the foun-
dation of that prosperity was laid in the blood
of the early French martyrs and in the heroic
achievements of the early French settlers."

It seemed incredible to the visitors that in a
settlement of so recent date their host should
have been able to show them a grist-mill, a
saw-mill, a vegetable alkali factory, a tannery, a
small foundry, a tailor shop, a bakery, a general
store, and a hemp-mill, giving employment to
over one hundred men.

Fortunately for the pioneers of the Ottawa,
they were not dependent upon the small revenue
derived from the cultivation of the land, but had
other resources which afforded them much
greater remuneration. The British Navy, which
hitherto had been dependent upon Russia for
its cordage and lumber, had to look elsewhere
for its supply of hemp and timber, owing to the
ports of the Baltic having been closed to British
ships.

The price of hemp having risen from £25 to
£11 8 per ton, they undertook the cultivation of
it, and raised over three-fourths of the amount
raised in Lower Canada at that time. The
exportation of lumber and vegetable alkali, or
112

Tobacco Offerings

potash, were also great sources of revenue.
In the new clearances were tons of wood ashes
from which the lye was extracted and boiled till
it looked like molten iron, a barrel of which sold
at that time for thirty dollars.

Prosperity and success crowned every com-
mercial enterprise upon which they ventured
until fire swept every mill, factory and dwelling
in the thriving little village out of existence,
including thousands of dollars in cash in a small
safe in the office, quantities of wheat, hemp,
sawn lumber, laths and general merchandise.

As there was no compensation in the way of
insurance, the loss was much felt.

Philemon Wright was not the man to be
deterred from climbing the ladder of success,
even though he had to mount it by the rungs of
adverse circumstances. Though the loss
sustained was great, almost overwhelming, he
rose above it with a courage which yielded not
to disappointment or failure.

The cause of the fire long remained a
mystery. That it was the work of an in-
cendiary was beyond question. Various theories
were advocated by the settlers, but suspicion
rested upon Machecawa, who, it was alleged,
had been seen by the bookkeeper at a late hour
lingering about the mills, a suspicion which
gained no credence with the Chief and his family-
US

CHAPTER XL

SNARES.
1812.

MACHECAWA, who was still a widower, made
no secret of his admiration of Abbie. With a
dogged determination, characteristic of his race,
he resolved to win her, and having evidently
made a deep study of the case, had put it down
as a first axiom that, if he began by wooing the
father and brothers, all things being favorable,
he would soon have the daughter and sister.
He had not been slow to observe a change in
the atmosphere of the Chiefs home since
Abbie's return from the convent. He felt
instinctively a lack of warmth in the welcome
received. He had little encouragement to
spend the day in the kitchen as he had done
formerly.

This coolness on the part of the weaker
members of the family he attributed to two
things. First, that they had moved into a new
house overlooking the Falls, on the western hill
of the village, which they regarded as altogether
too grand for him ; and, second, that Harold
114

Snares

Wrenford had succeeded in rousing within them
a want of trust and a suspicion that he had
sinister designs upon certain members of the
family.

Numerous and costly gifts and game of all
kinds found their way to the White House, as the
new home was called. A short deerskin coat,
or shirt, beautifully embroidered with colored
.v silks and beads, was sent to the Chief. Moccasins
similarly decorated were given to his sons.
Baskets and bark boxes ornamented with
colored porcupine quills were presented to Mrs.
Wright, who was suspicious of the motives
which prompted these offerings.

The two younger boys, who were still in their
teens, were delighted with the attentions of the
Red Chief, for he taught them many lessons in
hunting and trapping, and confided to them
many secrets unknown to white men. Casting
his Indian superstitions to the winds, he told
them of the existence of iron mines in the
neighboring hills. He led them into the depths
of the forests that they might witness one of
the strangest of ceremonies, which the Indians
were shy of performing in the presence of
whites — the ceremony of the marriage of the
nets — and which Rug afterwards described as
follows :

" Supper was hardly finished when a huge fire
"5

The White Chief of the Ottawa

was kindled on an open space on the bank of
the river, and their Chief called out in a loud
bass voice, ' Ho ! '

'"Ho! Ho!! Ho!!!' came thick and fast
from every part of the camp.

" They then surrounded two beautiful young
Indian girls, and laying at their feet several
rude nets, which had been made from the inner
bark of trees, commenced to dance round them,
yelling, stamping with their feet and brandishing
their arms, while the two Indian maidens, who
stood apart from each other, raised the nets
between them and held them suspended in
the air.

" Again the Chief called ' Ho ! ' and they all
fell on their backs silent and motionless, with
their feet towards the fire, while the Chief, with
a loud voice, called upon the spirit of the nets to
do its best to furnish them with food for them-
selves, their wives and their children. Then he
addressed the fish, urging them to take courage
and be caught, assuring them that the greatest
respect would be paid to their bones."*

Machecawa frequently took the boys with
him when he visited traps on the " Carman
Grant." f On one occasion they crossed the ice

Parkman mentions this as a common ceremony among the
Algonquin tribes of the Ottawa.
t The present siffe of the city of Ottawa.
116

Snares

on snow-shoes, climbed the cliffs, and made
their way through the woods to the head of a
small stream in the midst of a great cedar
swamp. They followed the stream through
marsh and thicket, crawling on their hands and
knees at times, and climbing over fallen trees,
until they came to a large pond with a dam
about thirty rods long. On one side the land
was low, but on the opposite side a steep bluff
of about thirty feet rose directly from the water.
The bluff was covered with poplar and birch.
Here beaver had made roads, or slides, from top
to bottom, wonderfully smooth and neat, on
which they slid the wood they had cut, some of
which was eight inches thick, into the pond
below. Machecawa, who had previously cut a
gap in the dam and made a hole in the ice,
where he had set two traps in about four inches
of water, drew up the first of them. He dis-
covered that a young beaver had been caught,
and cut off his leg, leaving that in the trap to
tell the tale. In the second was a huge male
with flat, broad, scaly tail, which could not have
been mistaken for any other creature than a
beaver. He re-baited the traps with an aromatic
substance called castor, which he had taken
from the pouches of one caught a few days
previously, and which entices the beaver from a
great distance.

117

The White Chief of the Ottawa

" Machecawa," continued Rug, " then began to
mutter a monotonous song which he afterwards
explained was a song .of praise to the great
king of the beavers, who, he declared, was the
forefather of the human race. In it he described
their good qualities, and promised to respect the
bones of the one which had been killed, and to
keep them from the dogs.

" ' Surely, Machecawa,' I said, ' you do not
believe that your grandfather was a beaver, do
you?'

" To this he replied : ' De fadder ob de fadder
ob de fadder ob my fadder, she am de king of de
beaver an' de fadder ob all men.'

" I asked him," said Rug, " if in that case it
were not wrong to kill a beaver, for I hardly
knew how to reconcile the Indian's superstitious
belief with his conduct.

" ' When de big Injun she am kill de beaver,'
he replied, ' she praise de good beaver, and de
king she am pleese an' she no get cross.' "

Proceeding eastward they soon reached the
Rideau, and following the ice on snow-shoes
they were surprised to hear the sound of a
woodman's axe in the distance. They followed
the direction from whence the sound came and
found a white man, Braddish Billings by name,
hewing out for himself a home in the forest.
He was as much surprised at seeing them as
118

Snares

they were at seeing him, as he did not expect to
find any white man, except Mr. Honeywell, in
the vicinity of his grant.

They had not gone far when the Indian drew
their attention to the tracks of a jumper in the
snow. Following the track for a mile they
came upon a small clearing, in the midst of
which stood a log shanty, and found that it had
been built by Mr. Honeywell, who, like Mr.
Billings, had made his way through the wilds
from Prescott with a jumper drawn by a young
ox, upon which he had strapped all his house-
hold effects, provisions and tools.

They then followed a trail which led down to
the little Chaudiere, where Machecawa had a
moose snare. He had driven two oak pegs into
two large pine trees, about six feet from the
ground, on opposite sides of the trail. On these
he hung a cord about the size of a cod-line,
formed of thirty strands of the green skin of a
moose and arranged as a noose, one end of
which was securely attached to a fallen log, so
that when the moose would come down hill for
a drink he would run his head into it and the
strip would slip off the pegs and tighten round
his neck ; then, in attempting to get free he
would become strangled, for the log to which he
was attached could not be dragged through the
woods.

119

The White Chief of the Ottawa

At the mouth of a creek which ran through a
deep ravine* the Indian had set traps for mink
and otter. Cautiously they approached the
spot, keeping to the lee side till they reached
the bank, where they remained quietly for
several minutes. They soon observed two young
otters crawling to the top of the opposite bank,
a height of about thirty or forty feet. No sooner
had they reached it than they slid head-first
down into the water. This was repeated over
and over again until someone stepped on a dry
branch, which snapped, and they disappeared
and were not seen again.

* The present Water-works viaduct.

120

CHAPTER XII.

MRS. BANCROFTS SVGARING-OFF.
1814.

NANCY CHAMBERLAIN and Sarah Olmstead
were neighbors, and were the recipients of
numerous visits from Phil and Bearie. It had
been commented upon by many in the settle-
ment that there had been an unusual number of
" bees " during the autumn and winter. Among
others, Mrs. Olmstead had a husking-bee, but
did not invite many of the neighbors, who there-
fore were not slow in imputing to her certain
designs in trying to form a relationship with the
Chief's family.

Mrs. Chamberlain also had a bee, an apple-
drying bee, and, following the example of her
friend and neighbor in the exclusiveness of her
invitations, brought herself under the same ban
as Mrs. Olmstead. Whereupon Mrs. Bancroft,
who also had a marriageable daughter, resolved,
when the spring days should come, to have a
" sugaring-off," and to teach her ambitious
neighbors a thing or two about entertainments.
Invitations were accordingly sent to all the New

Englanders in the settlement, including rich
121

The White Chief of the Ottawa

and poor, young and old, and extensive prepara-
tions made for the greatest social event of the
season.

Among those who accepted the invitation
were the Aliens, the Sheffields, the Townsends,
the Wrights, the Eberts, the Wymans, the Olm-
steads, the Chamberlains, the Fessendens, the
Honeywells, and the Moores. These with many
others gathered round the glowing, crackling
fire, above which a huge new potash kettle was
suspended by crotched sticks.

" It will soon be ready to pour into the smaller
kittle," said Ephraim Bancroft, " for it has been
boilin' stiddy since mornin'. I only found out
this spring that it takes nearly twice as long to
boil down the last sap of the season as it does
the first, and it is not near so sweet."

"Be careful, Ephraim," said Mrs. Bancroft,
" you're pilin' on too much wood. It's getting
quite syrupy, an' you'll burn it if you're not
more careful. Keep the fire low and stiddy."

The young people were having a gay time
coasting down hill over the ' crust ' on Dudley
Moore's traineau, while the men and women
" hugged " the fire and discussed the all-absorb-
ing subject of the American invasion. The
Chief had just returned from Montreal, and had
the latest war news, which was received with
keenest interest.

122

Mrs. Bancroft's Sugaring-off

" It was rumored," he said, " that Wilkinson
was coming up Lake Champlain with six
thousand men, followed by Hampton with a
large force, and De Salaberry and Macdonell
posted our men in such advantageous positions,
and were so successful in concealing the weak-
ness of our force, that Wilkinson and his
men had to beat a hasty retreat.

" You have probably heard," he continued,
" that Colonel Morrison met Boyd on the St.
Lawrence, near Cornwall, on his way to attack
Montreal, and drove him back to Plattsburg."

"If they get Montreal," said Mr. Fessenden,
" the whole of Canada will fall into their hands."

" What is the whole fuss about, anyhow ? "
asked a shrewd little New Englander from one
of the back settlements, who had bought a tract
of land and was paying for it in work.

" It is a long story," replied the Chief, " and a
sad one, but I shall try to explain to you in as
few words as possible the whole trouble, for there
are several here to-night who have strong
prejudices against Britain, which should be
removed.

" Ever since America, the elder daughter of
Great Britain, wanted to commence house-
keeping for herself, and had such difficulty in
escaping from her arbitrary old father, she
has not had the kindliest feelings toward him.
123

The "White Chief of the Ottawa

She lost sight of the fact that the British
Parliament was by no means the British people,
a great majority of whom sympathized with her
in her struggles for constitutional liberty, and
regretted the misery it produced.

" Though not actuated by hostile feeling
against the father, she was determined to over-
turn his short-sighted policy. Washington did
his best to repress the anti-British spirit which
pervaded the Democratic party, and succeeded
in establishing a commercial treaty with Britain,
but unfortunately after his death the Democratic
party came into power, and the dislike for every-
thing British began to show itself more than
ever.

"Meanwhile Europe was almost completely
at the mercy of Napoleon. England, whose
fleet swept the seas, being the only obstacle in
his way, he determined to strike at her power
at the most vital part, so he closed all the ports
of Europe against her manufactures, and author-
ized the seizure of all vessels bound for British
harbors.

" England retaliated by declaring all the ports
of France and her allies from which the British
flag was excluded in a state of blockade. In
doing this Britain was merely adopting Bona-
parte's own measures against himself.

"This state of things paralyzed American
124

Mrs. Bancroft's Sugaring-off

trade, and the Democratic party made it a
favorable opportunity of stirring up feeling
against England, instead of against Bonaparte,
who alone was responsible.

" Meanwhile two or three unfortunate circum-
stances, as you are aware, helped to widen the
breach. An American frigate, the Chesapeake^
was cruising off Virginia, and as she had
some British deserters on board, was hailed
by an English man-of-war, the Leopard, and a
formal demand was made for these men. The
American captain refused to admit the right of
search, whereupon a broadside was fired from
the British ship, and the deserters were given
up.

"The English Government did not approve of
the act, and offered to make reparation, but
Congress declared war. About the same time
Britain withdrew the Order-in-CouncJl which
affected the American trade, and though it was
known in the United States that the cause of
the war had been removed, Congress did not
recede from its hostile position, but had decided
to drive Britain from Canada, and to add it as
another State to the Union. This policy was
opposed by the Republican party, who sent
delegates from several counties in New York
protesting against the war."

" Someone told me," said Mr. Townsend, " that
125

The White Chief of the Ottawa

on the day war was declared all the ships in Bos-
ton harbour displayed flags at half-mast, and at a
meeting of the citizens resolutions were passed
stating that the proposed invasion of Canada
was unnecessary and would lead to connection
with France, which would be destructive to
American independence."

" Quite so," said the Chief. " Our friends in
New England have much to contend with in
the foreign element that is creeping into the
Democratic party — such as German socialists,
refugees from the Irish rebellion and of the
French Revolution, who have little or no true
patriotic spirit."

" Imagine any of our neighbors at Woburn,"
interrupted Martin Eberts, " stooping to seduce
the people of this or any other country from
their allegiance, and converting them into
traitors, as a preparation for making them good
American subjects. I hear," he continued, " that
Eustis pointed out the advantage it would be to
secure Canada, and said that it was a most
opportune time while Britain had her whole force
engaged with Napoleon."

" Yes," said the Chief, " and he stated that it
could be taken without soldiers, and that if they
sent a few officers into the country Canadians
would rally round their standard. So they sent
poor old Hull, after whom our township was
126

Mrs. Bancroft's Sugaring-off

named, with twenty-five hundred men, to open
the campaign in Upper Canada about two years
ago. As soon as he met Brock he hoisted the
white flag and fell back to Detroit, and he and
all his men were taken prisoners. Hull was
condemned to be shot, but was spared because
of his great age, and in consideration of former
good service."

"It is no wonder," said Mr. Fessenden, "that
the attempt has failed, for it had not the backing
of thinking men nor of true Republicans."

" It's an ill wind that blows nobody good/'
said the Chief. " The price of wheat has gone
up three dollars per bushel, and I have just dis-
posed of our fall crop at a profit of $7,000.

" May the war continue," said Martin Eberts,
" and we'll all sow wheat."

" Let us hope that it won't," said Mr. Honey-
well, " for I had to go all the way to the front for
three barrels of flour, for my family was on the
verge of starvation. I had just rolled it into the
shanty, when who should come along but Dow
and Billings, who wanted to buy two barrels,
but I wouldn't sell, for I had hauled it all the
way from Kingston on a jumper. Well, sir,
they laid down $50, and walked off with the
flour."

But to return to our party. It was a glorious
moonlight night, and the young people would
9 127

The White Chief of the Ottawa

probably have kept up the sport the whole night
long had not Ephraim announced that the
" lateer " was ready.

The cushions and buffalo robes were then
taken from the sleighs and spread upon the
snow, and the gentlemen served each lady with
a block of hard snow, upon which had been
poured some of the boiling sugar, which
immediately hardened into " lateer," or taffy.

For a time there was a lull in the babel of
voices, when suddenly their attention was
arrested by the sound of a stealthy step of moc-
casined feet on the crust, and the tall, stately
form of an Indian emerged from the woods.

" Hullo, Machecawa, is that you ? " said the
Chief. " You are just in time. We want you to
show us how to dance the war-dance, and then
we shall give you a good tin of ' sucre.' "

Machecawa was quite equal to the emergency,
for when asked by the Chief if he liked sugar he
replied :

"Ba, oui," with a decided emphasis on the
" oui." Then approaching the fire, he asked :

" Who belongs to dees pot ? " pointing to the
huge kettle.

" It belongs to Mrs. Bancroft, who will give
you a good share of sugar if you will dance for
us."

The young people laughed heartily as Mache-
128

Mrs* Bancroft's Su?aring-off

cawa stamped and danced and sang a strange
monotonous song. Not a muscle of his face
betrayed fun or amusement He went through
with it all as gravely and seriously as though he
were about to rush into conflict with his ene-
mies, the inevitable whoop terminating the
ludicrous performance.

By this time the sugar was ready to pour into
moulds. Mrs. Bancroft had removed the small
kettle from the fire, and was stirring it vigorously,
when she called :

" Ephraim, it is your turn to stir now. My
arms is near broke." In a moment Ephraim
was beside her, and was straining the muscles
of his right arm in stirring the fast cooling
sugar.

The contents of the pot were then poured into
dishes of various shapes and sizes, which were
imbedded in the snow, the largest of which was
handed to Machecawa, who sat on a fallen log
and began to devour the contents greedily. At
length he caught sight of Bearie, who was
seated in Gideon Olmstead's cutter talking to
Sarah.

" Whoop ! " cried the Indian, a ray of light
creeping over his dark face. " De young chiefs
squaw ? Some tarn she am dat squaw, more
some time she am de odder," he said, pointing
his finger at Nancy.

129

The White Chief of the Ottawa

Shrieks of laughter resounded through the
woods.

" It is precisely what we would like to know
ourselves," said Mary, the Chief's youngest
daughter, who had made repeated attempts to
draw from the boys their purposes and plans
regarding the future.

" Choose partners — choose partners for ' Auld
Lang Syne,' " said the White Chief.

"They seem to have chosen partners," said
Christie, " but the trouble is they won't let any
one into the secret."

" No doubt," said the Chief, " they will declare
their intentions in due time."

The whole party then, at Mrs. Bancroft's re-
quest, gathered in a circle round the fire, and
forming a chain, sang :

" Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind ? "

After which three cheers were given for the host
and hostess, who had afforded them an oppor-
tunity of spending so enjoyable an evening.

They were all seated in the sleighs and about
to drive off in various directions, when Mrs.
Wright called for Abbie.

"Is Abbie with you, Mrs. Olmstead?" said
the Chief.

130

Mrs, Bancroft's Sugaring-off

" Is she with you, Mrs. Chamberlain ? "

" No, no ; she is not here," cried a dozen
voices.

The anxious father called, " Halt ! halt ! We
must not leave till we can find Abbie."

" Wait a moment," said Bearie. " It has just
occurred to me that Abbie left us about ten
minutes ago, remarking that she had lost her
muff, and was going to search for it at the foot
of the hill."

They called and searched in vain, and sud-
denly the Chief said :

" Where is Machecawa ? "

" He left some time ago on snow-shoes," said
one of the party.

" Follow him up, boys," he said. " Trace the
track of the snow-shoes through the woods.
The moon will furnish sufficient light."

Fully a dozen volunteers responded, and
hastened through the woods in the direction of
the Indian's camp, where they found the Red
Chief and his friends before the fire smoking.

" Have you seen Mr. Wright's daughter,
Abbie ? " asked Mr. Bancroft.

They shook their heads and did not move
from their lazy attitudes before the fire, except
Machecawa, who was on his feet in a moment,
and led the way back to the sugar bush at a
slow trot.

131

The White Chief of the Ottawa

In the meantime Bearie and Thomas Brigham
had followed a track leading from the foot of the
hill where they had been coasting into the woods.
They waded through drifts knee deep, through
a forest almost impenetrable, and to their amaze-
ment found the object of their search securely
lashed to a tree by a long strip of deerskin,
blindfolded, and with a red handkerchief tied
over her mouth. Hurriedly releasing her, they
searched the neighborhood, but could find no
trace of the perpetrator of the deed. She was
suffering from hysteria, and could hardly give an
intelligible account of what had happened.

" I saw my muff in the snow," she said, " and
was stooping to pick it up when someone sud-
denly threw a cloth over my face and tied my
hands. It was all done so suddenly and gently
that I had not time to see who it was, and
thought it was one of the boys who had done it
in jest. The truth dawned upon me when I
began to struggle to get free and found myself
half-dragged, half-carried through the deep snow
and tied to a tree. I was nearly insane with
terror. If ever I prayed in my life I prayed
then to be released."

On their return home they were met by Mr.
Wrenford, who asked if they had had an enjoy-
able time. Phil, in a very excited manner, gave
132

Mrs. Bancroft's Sugaring-off

an account of the attempted abduction of his
sister, whereupon the tutor exclaimed :

" Most mysterious ! What treachery ! What
villainy! Evidently the infamous work of In-
dians. Where was your friend, Machecawa ? " he
said, addressing Abbie.

" Machecawa had absolutely nothing to do
with it," replied Bearie, sharply, " nor had any of
his tribe, for the tracks were made by hob-nail
boots — not moccasins."

CHAPTER XIII.

ACCIDENTAL AND CONFIDENTIAL.
1815.

MR. WRENFORD, the bookkeeper, whose
tutoring days were now over, sat at his desk in
the office, reading letters which had come by
morning post addressed to the firm.

Among the letters which he opened and read
was one for Mrs. P. Wright, in care of P. Wright,
jr., for Phil had chosen Sarah for his bride, and
Bearie was preparing a home for Nancy. It
was from Abbie, and lay bare to her bosom
friend and sister-in-law the deep secrets of her
heart.

She had been disappointed, and had resolved
at length to give up fretting for one whom she
had loved and lost. Could he ever have loved
her ? Why, if alive and able to communicate
with her, had he remained as dead ? Could it
be that he had laid down his life in defence of
the colony with gallant Brock at Queenston ? or
at Stony Creek ? but that would not account for
his silence before the invasion. Ever since she
had parted with him at Quebec his image had

Accidental and Confidential

been enshrined in her heart, and now two others
were seeking her hand in marriage. One, though
unloved and distrusted by every member of the
family, her father only excepted, had once again
renewed his suit, and her heart turned to him
because of his resemblance to his friend, her first
love. The other was her brother's most intimate
friend, who had assisted in releasing her from
her perilous position the night of the sugar party.
To say which she loved most was a problem.
At times one seemed uppermost in her heart's
affection, at times the other.

The letter closed with the following pathetic
words : " Would that an angel from heaven
could fly down and whisper the name of the one
most worthy of my deepest confidence and love.
Oft have I wondered, with swelling heart, if the
Omniscient thought me unworthy to enter the
sacred sphere of wedded life. Now, at last, there
seems a ray of hope. Let it be fully understood,
dear Sarah, that this is entre nous. Do not
whisper it even to Phil."

Wrenford read and re-read the precious mis-
sive, and hastily jotting down one or two sen-
tences in his pocket-book, re-folded, re-sealed it
and handed it to Phil, who came in shortly
afterwards.

The Chief discovered by mere chance that
evening that, for some unaccountable reason, his

The White Chief of the Ottawa

bookkeeper had debited the men with the
amount of their wages, and credited them with
the amount of their store account, and charged a
man with an order for two shillings instead of
two pounds, for which he reproved him severely.

Wrenford looked dazed and bewildered, and
replied with a deep sigh, after meditating for
some time and shifting his attitude uneasily :

" Ah, well, sir, you see, I am not altogether
responsible for my actions, for, as a matter of
fact, sir, I fear that my affections have run off
with my wits, and I feel impelled to lay before
you a very important request. For many months
I have been exceedingly desirous of approaching
your second daughter with a view to marriage,
but hesitated to do so without consulting you,
sir. I think the time has come when your
daughter would consider the matter favorably,
and with your consent I shall lose no time in
laying the matter before her."

The Chief tilted back his chair, thrust both
hands into his pockets, and with a characteristic
droop of his right eyelid said slowly :

" You have my full, free and hearty consent,
and if you are successful I shall take you into
the firm of P. Wright & Sons as a partner."

Wrenford went to the wicket in answer to a
call from one of the employees, and the Chief
left his seat and stood leaning against the high
136

Accidental and Confidential

desk with its set of books, surveying his clerk
from head to foot. The fastidiousness of his
dress, the arrogance of his manner, his cultured
mind, his shrewd business capacity, gave addi-
tional effect to his claim. He seemed a man
worthy in every way of the favor he sought.

The Chiefs face was expressive of satisfaction
in the highest degree, and could hardly have de-
ceived the young Englishman with reference to
what was passing in his thoughts. They left the
office together at twilight and strolled beyond the
village by a pleasant walk to the White House-
It was a clear, calm evening, with hardly a sound
to break the stillness but a cow-bell tinkling
in the distance, the hum of insects and the rush-
ing water. As they entered a grove of stately
trees they beheld an unexpected vision. It was
Abbie. Her proud dark eyes were fixed upon
the ground as though some passion or struggle
were raging within. By her side was Thomas
Brigham, who stood looking intently into her
face, holding her hand meanwhile.

Matters were evidently on the verge of coming
to a climax when they heard the sound of ap-
proaching footsteps. Abbie looked up suddenly,
her face crimsoning to the roots of her hair as
she observed the cold steel-gray eyes of Mr.
Wrenford looking defiantly at Thomas.

" I fear we are intruding," said the Chief, coldly.
13?

The White Chief of the Ottawa

" Not at all," replied Abbie. " Mr. Brigham
has just given me a conundrum to solve, and I
was trying to think of an answer."

Whereupon Mr. Wrenford said :

" By the way, Miss Wright, I have been seek-
ing an opportunity all day of seeing you with
reference to the new spinnet that your mother
wished us to order from Montreal. We had a
letter from the firm this morning, and I was
going up to see you about it."

Almost unconsciously Abbie was led to walk
with Mr. Wrenford the remainder of the \vayt
while Thomas, biting his lips with rage, followed
in solemn silence with the Chief.

It was rather late, and the Chief, following the
example of the other members of the family,
retired, leaving the rival suitors and Abbie in
the sitting-room.

A look of triumph came into the face of
Harold as she addressed her remarks mostly to
him, and seemed oblivious of the presence of
Thomas. This, however, faded away when she
passed a small basket of maple sugar to his rival.
Clouds and sunshine alternated in the faces of
the jealous suitors, each of whom had made a
solemn resolve to remain until after the other
should withdraw. The embarrassment of the
situation was relieved only when the great old-
138

Accidental and Confidential

fashioned clock struck one, and Abbie, with
extended hand, advanced to Mr. Brigham and
said :

" May I hope to have the pleasure of seeing
you sometime to-morrow ? and you, too, Mr.
Wrenford," she added, as the two bowed them-
selves out of the door.

The progress of the suits of the rival claimants
for Abbie's affections had been watched with
deep interest by the villagers ; in fact, it was an
open secret that betting had taken place among
them on the chances of Harold Wrenford and
Thomas Brigham.

Abbie, who in every other matter held such
decided opinions, was unable to come to a de-
cision in this. At times, after long nights of re-
flection, she was disposed to accept Harold ; and
then, again, after other wakeful nights, she felt
her inclinations turning towards Thomas.

But now things had come to a crisis. All night
she tossed restlessly on her pillow, indecision
and suspense depriving her of rest and peace,
but as the first rays of dawn began to gild the
eastern sky Abbie had resolved that she would
accept the one who would come first.

At an early hour Mr. Wrenford called, and
after a prolonged interview, Abbie declared to
the family circle her engagement to the young

The "White Chief of the Ottawa

Englishman. The announcement was received
in silence. Tears trickled slowly down the
mother's face, while the father's was radiant with
satisfaction.

It was subsequently decided to postpone the
marriage indefinitely, out of deference to the
wishes of the mother and brothers.

140

CHAPTER XIV.

MACHECAWA SCALPS THE
' ' EENGLISHMAN. "

1815.

RUG had been at " The Landing " for several
hours awaiting the arrival of the Colombo, which
was unusually late. His father had written from
Quebec to have someone meet him and Abbie
with a double-seated waggon on that evening.

The night was extremely dark. A high
wind was blowing from the west when the lights
of the boat were seen as it rounded the head-
land on its way to the wharf.

" We have two trunks," said the Chief, after a
mutual exchange of greetings. " You had
better make them secure to the rack with ropes,
for we could ill afford to lose the small one."

" Or the large one either," added Abbie, " for
it contains a number of very valuable purchases."

" Abbie contemplates beginning housekeeping
soon," said the Chief, as they drove off together.

" The longer she postpones the evil day the
better for all parties concerned," muttered Rug,
who alighted from the waggon to lead the horses
141

The White Chief of the Ottawa

over a treacherous place in the road, which was
unsafe enough even in daylight. In addition to
the deep ruts worn by vehicles, the road was
obstructed by boulders too large to be easily
removed, while deep ditches bounded it on
either side. Here and there the branches of
trees swept their hats off or scratched their
faces. It was well that the horses knew the
road and that they had a careful driver.

Chilled by her brother's remark, Abbie
retorted :

" Is it necessary for me to be constantly bored
with such remarks ? "

"Yes, it is necessary — unfortunately — if you
would be saved from lifelong association with a
bore," responded her brother.

Abbie sat back in the farthest corner of the
conveyance and, biting her lips, gave herself up
to a host of unhappy meditations. The boys
had never given her one word of encourage-
ment, nor had Chrissy or her mother. There
had somehow stolen upon her, from time to time,
an uneasy feeling that there might possibly be
some grounds for their want of confidence ; but
she would dismiss such a thought as soon as it
presented itself and try to convince herself that
their eyes were blinded by jealousy, dislike, or
indifference. Far better be the wife of an
educated man and a gentleman, who may not be
142

Machecawa Scalps the "Eenglishman"

immaculate, she reasoned, than be the slave of a
mere farmer.

" I have seen something of his business deal-
ings," resumed Rug, with evident reluctance,
" which has filled me with uneasiness. That he
has been guilty of ' shady ' and even dishonest
transactions is certain."

On reaching the summit of the hill they were
met by the full blast of the wind, which had
risen to a gale, and which, together with the
hoarse roar of the falls and the swish of the
driving rain, produced a chorus of melancholy
sounds.

" What was that ? " said Abbie in a startled
voice, " I thought I heard something fall."

" Just a tree in the forest," said her father,
complacently, " it is not the first I've heard this
evening."

" But hark ! " said Abbie. " What was that ? "
Her ear had caught what sounded like a wild
"whoop," followed by a scream, which was
drowned in a gust of wind more concentrated
and more fierce than before.

"Timid child," said the father, taking her
hand in his, " owls and eagles are being disturbed
from their peaceful slumbers. Your nervous
temperament and fervid imagination easily
throw you into a panic. There is nothing to
fear — nothing, nothing."
10 143

The White Chief of the Ottawa

At last they stood before the gates of the
White House. A flickering light was in the
window. Abbie bounded into the hall and into
the arms of her mother, who had been watching
and waiting their arrival for hours.

In the meantime consternation prevailed
outside. The Chief and his son had discovered
that the small tin trunk containing several
thousand dollars was missing. The ropes had
evidently been cut With his heart beating
violently with apprehension of an irreparable
loss, or a passage at arms with a band of high-
way robbers, the Chief hurriedly gathered all the
fire-arms, ammunition, lanterns and axes in the
place and sat down to wait for Rug, who had
gone to arouse some of the employees in
connection with the works. He tried to remain
quietly where he was, but felt so nervous and
excited that he could not sit still for a moment.
He seemed to think that he was losing time
unless he was moving. It was an absurd idea,
he knew, but he could not resist it, so he hastened
down to Mr. Wrenford's boarding-house to
secure his assistance, and found that that gentle-
man had gone out early in the evening and had
not returned.

Rug having arrived with a number of brave,
faithful men, they hastened back over the road
to the steamboat landing. Cautiously they
144

Machecawa Scalps the "Een^lishman"

crept along, scanning each blackened stump
which stood out in the darkness like a fortress
of the enemy, until at last the Chief, who was in
advance of the search party, gave a shout :

" Come on, boys, come on ! "

There by the roadside stood a tall, powerful-
looking man, bending over the missing trunk.
Quick as thought they surrounded him. He
stood firm and erect. He moved not an inch,
nor manifested any desire to escape, and as they
closed in upon him, to their amazement they
found it was Machecawa. In his left hand was
a scalp of long auburn hair ; in his right was a
bag of gold, which he held up triumphantly.

" Eenglishman, he no rob White Chief no
more," he said, his dark eyes flashing in the dim
light of the lanterns. " Eenglishman, he no burn
White Chiefs mills no more. Eenglishman, he
no tie White Chiefs girl to tree no more," and
he shook the auburn hair and danced round the
box in high glee.

The Chief was stunned. Visions of the
decapitated Wrenford rose up before him. He
stood gazing at the Indian with mingled feelings
of horror at the atrocious crime he had evidently
committed, and of incredulity as to the veracity
of the charges brought against his unfortunate
clerk.

Machecawa advanced, and laying his hand
US

The White Chief of the Ottawa

upon the Chiefs shoulder, explained that he
was crossing the road, when he observed a man
climb on to the rack behind the waggon, sever
the ropes that bound the trunk securely, and
deliberately throw it into a mossy bank, after
which he let himself down gently and proceeded
to force open the lock.

"He was looking in the box," said Machecawa,
" when I pounced on him and grabbed him by
the hair, which came off in my hands."

He then passed it round as an object of
curiosity, and after examining it closely, the
Chief said, with a sigh of relief :

"It is a wig, boys, only a wig. Let us trust
that the poor fellow has escaped the scalping-
knife after all."

" More's the pity," growled one of the men.

The Indian proceeded with his story. Wren-
ford escaped to the woods, followed by himself
in hot pursuit, and just as he was about to step
into a canoe at the river's bank the Indian
captured him and tied him to a tree, while he
overturned the canoe on shore, emptying it of
all its contents. Then, placing his pistol at
Wrenford's clean-shaven head, he said :

" You deserve to be shot."

The robber pleaded for mercy, and the Indian
promised to release him if he would never again
show his face in the settlement under penalty of
146

Machecawa Scalps the " Eenglishman n

death. He was then permitted to escape in his
canoe.

The Indian led them through a path to the
river, where they found an old carpet-bag filled
with cash, a common grain sack containing
family plate, a bag of provisions, and a valuable
gun.

No further evidence was needed to convince
the Chief of the perfidy of his clerk. He leaned
against a tree unable to utter a word. There
was the deerskin bag which Mary had made for
the cash and which was in the safe the night of
the fire. There were valuables which he had
left in charge of his clerk before leaving for
Quebec. The truth was only too evident. At
length he was able to say :

" Thank you, Machecawa ; you have done me
good service to-night. I shall not forget it."

While these events were transpiring, Abbie
and her mother were too anxious and excited
to think of sleep. Mrs. Wright sat before
the fire which roared and crackled on the spaci-
ous hearth. The angry wind whistled and
howled about the house. It seemed as though
the elements had gone mad with fury.

Abbie went to the window and peered out

into the night. The face of heaven was dark, so

dark that it seemed to frown upon her. As she

stood gazing abstractedly into the darkness her

147

The White Chief of the Ottawa

attention was suddenly attracted by the flicker-
ing light of lanterns and torches. That wild
shriek which had almost paralyzed her with
fear echoed and re-echoed in her ears and
carried with it strange forebodings of evil. She
walked up and down the room, nervously
stopping now and then before the window to
observe the progress of the search party on its
return. Soon her father entered, looking pale
and haggard.

"Did you find it, Philemon?" asked Mrs.
Wright, with bated breath as she approached
him.

" Yes," he replied.

Suddenly Abbie sprang towards him, and
putting her arms round his neck and pressing
her head against his cheek, whispered :

" I'm so glad."

" My dear child," he said, stroking her head
caressingly, "though we have found what we
lost, we have sustained a greater loss in Mr.
Wrenford. You have cause to thank God for
the greatest deliverance of your life, for he has
proved himself unworthy of you. It is not
necessary for you to know all the unhappy
circumstances."

"Tell me all," she whispered. "Withhold
nothing."

The Chief gave a brief resume of what had
148

Machccawa Scalps the " Eenglfshman "

happened. Abbie groaned and staggered and
would have fallen had not her father's strong
arms caught her and carried her upstairs to
her own room.

Months elapsed before Abbie recovered from
the shock. She could not escape from the
sensation of having had a terrifying nightmare.
Natural emotion could not be suppressed. She
could do nothing but weep, and would fly to her
own room, lay her face on the pillow and give
full vent to her feelings. It was a long time
before she was able to rise above the over-
whelming sense of disappointment and loss.

149

CHAPTER XV.

A ROMANTIC WEDDING.
1815.

THERE came a time early in the life of Rug,
the Chiefs youngest son, when love of adventure
gave way to a deeper, holier love. One beatific
vision was ever before him — the vision of a
beautiful girl just budding into womanhood.

The first glimpse he ever had of Hannah
Chamberlain was at the little Congregational
meeting-house, which had been supplied with a
pastor by the Congregational Board of
Massachusetts in response to an appeal from
the settlers. He often sat gazing at her through
the whole service, and whenever she looked
towards him now and then she might have read
in his tell-tale face the passionate emotion which
stirred his heart. He was at a loss to under-
stand why her presence had such a strange
influence over him.

" She reminds me more of mother than any
woman I have ever met," he mused, as he
turned over the leaves of the hymn-book

carelessly.

150

A Romantic Wedding-

Just then Mr. Meach, who had been preaching
of the love of Christ, hesitated to find a passage
in the old Testament which he intended to read
to the congregation. It was the momentary
pause which led Rug to listen to the preaching,
for he had not heard a word of what had gone
before.

" David, in his lament over Jonathan, said :
' Very pleasant hast thou been unto me. Thy
love to me was wonderful, passing the love of
women.' Sweeter, stronger, fuller and better
than any earthly love," continued the preacher,
" is the love of Christ to us. Add together all
the love of all the loving hearts in the world,
multiply it by infinity, and you will have a
faint idea of what the love of God in Christ is.
He loves you, my brethren, absorbingly, un-
utterably."

" What is this strange sensation that has
come over me," said Rug to himself, " that
seems to possess my thoughts and emotions
whenever I see that beautiful girl, or hear of
love?"

The more he thought of it the more puzzled
he became, for hitherto there had been but little
deep sentiment about Rug, who believed more
in the common-place than in the romantic. He
never had any inclination to read love stories,
which he regarded as unreal and unnatural. But

The White Chief of the Ottawa

now the probability of the improbable surprised
and amused him. " This is positively absurd,"
he said to himself, as he stood with the rest of
the congregation to receive the benediction. It
was a relief to him when the service was over
and he joined Chrissy on her way homeward.

Life began to have a new meaning to Rug
from that day. He felt that he only began to
live when he began to love, but he felt that it
would have been an intrusion on the sacredness
of his love to have mentioned it to anyone, even
to Miss Chamberlain herself. Month after
month passed which only served to intensify his
affection. At length he sought an opportunity
of laying the matter before his father. His
confidence was not rudely repelled. It never
had been. He was not reproached for presuming
to think of love and marriage at so early an age
for he was only twenty. On the contrary, his
father said :

" There pan be no question in my mind that
wedded life is the ideal life for man — the life
which God intended for you and for me. If
your affections are involved, my boy, why not
write and put the case before the young woman
of your choice ?

Acting upon his father's advice he penned
the following short, manly note :
152

A Romantic Wedding

DEAR Miss CHAMBERLAIN,— I know a young man
who is very fond of you. He would like to begin a corre-
spondence with you with a view to marriage. Kindly
inform me if I may hold out to him any prospect of

encouragement.

Yours truly,

RUG WRIGHT.

Several days passed before he received a reply
to his letter, and when at last it came his hands
trembled as he broke the seal and read as
follows :

DEAR MR. WRIGHT,— You certainly may not hold out
any encouragement until I know the gentleman who
would confer upon me the honor to which you refer.

The only true basis of such a union is love, and I can-
not love one whom I do not know. If the gentleman
in question will call to-morrow I shall be pleased to
receive him.

Yours truly,

HANNAH CHAMBERLAIN.

The courtship thus commenced resulted a few
months later in a unique wedding. Rev. Mr.
Meach had given up the charge, owing to declin-
ing health and strength, and there was no clergy-
man available. It was therefore suggested that
they send through the woods to the new Scotch
settlement of Perth for a Justice of the Peace,
who, it was reported, was authorized to perform
marriages.

153

The White Chief of the Ottawa

An Indian guide was secured, and Rug com-
menced a long and tedious journey through the
forest on snowshoes.

No one but an Indian could have kept the
tangled path, which led through a perfect con-
fusion of drifts and underbrush. Though only
fifty-six miles distant, they were nearly a week
on the way, for after several days of circuitous
wanderings the Indian was forced to admit that
he was not positive as to the exact location of
the settlement. Their perseverance was rewarded
after five days on seeing smoke ascending from
a small collection of huts.

" Is this the Scotch settlement ? " asked Rug
of an old man who was cutting wood.

" Ay, sir," was the reply.

" Is there a Justice of the Peace here ? "

" Ay, sir."

" Well," said Rug, " I want to see him. Where
is he ? "

The old man dropped his axe, and going to
one of the huts, knocked at the door.

" Is your gude mon at hame ? " he asked of a
tall, fair woman, who had all the evidence of a
lady of refinement and culture.

" The Major left this morning for Montreal,"
she replied, " but he has appointed Archie Mc-
Keracher to act in his place during his absence."

They then approached Archie, who was busily

A Romantic Wedding

engaged in hewing a stick of timber near his
shanty.

" I believe," said Rug, " that you are author-
ized to act as Justice of the Peace ? "

" That I am," he said, pulling himself up as if
straining to attain to the height of the dignity
and importance of the position.

" And that you can issue licenses and perform
marriages ? "

" Ay," he said, " that I can."

" Well," continued Rug, " I want you to come
down to the Chaudiere to perform a ceremony
for me."

" Mon alive," he exclaimed, " would you be
askin' such a thing ? Dinna ye ken that my
gude wife an my bairnies 'ud perish ? Na ! na !
na!"

" But," said Rug, " I shall pay you for loss of
time, and it will be to your profit. I'll give you
£10 for your trouble."

" Na ! na ! " he said. " Ten gouden sovereigns
would na pay me for my trouble."

After a long and tedious discussion it was
finally decided that the Scotchman should return
with them in consideration of " the young mon's
importunity," and that the fee be raised to £14.

Rug and the Scotchman reached the White
House just as the members of the Chief's family
were gathering round the supper table, and the

The White Chief of the Ottawa

devoted young lover was not slow in observing
Hannah in the group.

" We have bad news for you, Rug," said his
father. " We have j ust ascertained that marriages
are not valid in Lower Canada unless performed
by a minister or priest."

For a moment Rug was speechless — partly
from disappointment and partly from dis-
pleasure. As he stood before them he looked a
model of muscular strength and manliness,
though little more than a boy. He looked
fondly at Hannah, and as she met* his gaze her
cheeks grew crimson and her eyes dropped shyly
under their long lashes. The devotion of her
lover filled her with an indescribable ecstasy
which thrilled her innermost soul, making it
responsive to his. In her opinion Rug was all
that was good and true and noble. He was her
ideal, and she was determined to love, honor
and obey him, humbly, tenderly, completely,
submissively.

" Is an outward ceremony necessary ? " he
said, "to complete a union of heart and soul
which was made in heaven months ago ? "

" I have a plan," said the Chief, " which you

will be perfectly justified in adopting under the

circumstances. Let us drive down on the ice

to-morrow, and halt on the other side of the

156

A Romantic Wedding

border line between the two provinces, and have
our Scottish friend perform the ceremony in
Upper Canada, which he is entitled to do by
law."

The suggestion was received with applause by
all present, and preparations for the wedding
proceeded with.

On the day following, an exceedingly brief
ceremony was performed on the frozen river, the
only part of which the bewildered bridegroom
could remember being the last words of the
Scotchman : " I pronoonce ye mon and wife."
The solemn words seemed to echo and re-echo
in unison with the merry jingle of the sleigh-
bells as he drove with his young bride through
snowy fields and drifts of spotless purity to his
father's house, followed by a long line of sleighs.
The limbs of the dignified elms which guarded
the approach to the house hung heavily glitter-
ing in the setting sun, the ice laden spruces
waved wearily and crackled as the numerous
guests filed into the large front room.

There was an awkward silence, as though it
might have been a funeral, for the tendency of
life in the woods seemed to impart to many of
the early settlers something of the characteristics
of their surroundings— calmness, silence, sta-
bility— and they seemed to shrink from the

The White Chief of the Ottawa

sound of their own voices. Some of the young
men looked as though they would like to have
given up their seats to the young ladies who were
standing, but were too bashful to propose it

Fortunately the embarrassing silence was
soon broken by the happy announcement that
supper was ready in the kitchen.

What a bright and cheery appearance that
kitchen presented ! On the hearth a huge pile
of dry resinous logs burned brilliantly, filling
the room with light and warmth and good
cheer. On the iron crane which swung back
over the fire hung a huge " spare rib " of fresh
pork, the gravy of which dripped into a pan
below. Several pots or " kittles " were also sus-
pended from the crane, containing fowl, potatoes,
or apple-sauce, while willing hands assisted in
placing upon the long trellis tables steaming hot
pies, cakes, and loaves of fancy bread, which
were brought from the outer brick oven.

Full justice having been done to the repast,
they formed in couples, the best man with the
bride. The bridegroom with the first bridesmaid
led the way back to the front room, which had
been cleared of all superfluous articles of furni-
ture, and where Joe Larocque was tuning his
"fiddle."

Then followed a scene of merriment such as
158

A Romantic Wedding

the young people of the settlement had never
before beheld, and in which even the bashful
lads who had been slow to offer their chairs to
the ladies took as active a part as any. The
dancing was prolonged until the small hours of
the morning, when the guests drove off in the
moonlight to relate the circumstances of the
romantic wedding to their friends.

ii 159

CHAPTER XVI.

A PERILOUS JOURNEY.
1815-16.

EIGHTEEN months passed. The Chief was
in Quebec with Hannah and Abbie awaiting the
arrival of Rug, who had been sent by his father
to the Mother Land to dispose of two cargoes of
timber.

It was an unusually cold evening in June.
Snow had been falling all day. The neighboring
hills were covered with large feathery crystals,
which, however, soon melted as the sun appeared
for a moment before sinking behind the gray
walls of the Castle St. Louis. Just as the even-
ing gun was fired, news had reached the Union
Hotel that a vessel had been sighted near the
Island of Orleans. It was ascertained that it
was the Dorris, in command of Captain French,
and that Rug was on board. They were soon
speeding down Mountain Street in a caleche to
the docks, where they secured passage in a small
row-boat which was going out to the vessel.
The genial captain invited them to take tea with
him, and said that Rug was below supervising
and arranging with the Customs Officer about
160

A Perilous Journey

the baggage of his numerous prot£g£s, and
would be on deck shortly.

Hannah burst into a paroxysm of tears when
she caught sight of her long-lost lover, who had
been compelled to leave only a few weeks after
their marriage. He looked twenty years older,
and appeared careworn, haggard and ill. As
they were seated round the table he gave an
account of his travels.

" When I recived your letter," he said, address-
ing his father, " I chartered two vessels and
persuaded Archie and Jonathan Campbell to go
with me for a pleasure trip. We were nearly
three months tossing about at the mercy of wind
and wave when a hurricane swept the deck of
the vessel, carrying with it the main-mast and
sails. Water began to pour in at an alarming
rate, and after a desperate struggle at the pumps
the captain ordered all hands on deck. We
felt that we had to prepare for the worst. The
sailors had abandoned the pumps from
exhaustion, and Jonathan and I took their places
and worked until we, too, were exhausted, and as
others took our places we retired to the stern,
where we found Archie in a sheltered nook,
seated upon a coil of rope, playing his violin,
apparently oblivious of our perilous condition.

" For two days the work at the pumps was a
matter of life and death, and when at last the
161

The White Chief of the Ottawa

wind subsided we drifted about helplessly until '
a passing vessel saw our signals of distress and
towed us from the Bay of Biscay to Bristol,
where the necessary repairs were made to enable
us to proceed to Liverpool. We soon disposed
of the timber at good profit, and Jonathan,
Archie and I took the stage-coach for London,
where we had the honor of being presented at
Court to gay Prince Geordie, who is acting as
Regent, owing to his father's mental derange-
ment. I wish you could have seen the Carleton
House," he said, turning to Hannah. " He built
it at a cost of £250,000 sterling, and had to sell
his stud of race-horses and discharge most of
his servants to meet the demands of the creditors,
for he had led such a wild, dissipated life that
the King and Parliament refused for a long time
to help him out of his difficulties.

" We visited many places of interest in Lon-
don and the old farm in Kent, which we found
bordered on that of General Wolfe. Then we
crossed to France, and after having with great
difficulty secured passports, drove to Paris.

"If we had arrived on the scene only a few
months sooner we might have seen how Napoleon
turned Louis XVIII. from the kingdom, or we
might have seen the great battle of Waterloo ;
but Napoleon is now safe at St Helena, where
he was sent last October."
162

A Perilous Journey

" The story of Napoleon Bonaparte," said
Captain French, " presents probably the most
remarkable example in the world of the action
of great intellect and resolute will, unrestrained
by conscience, and shows both the possible
success which may reward, for a time, the most
unscrupulous selfishness and also, fortunately, its
certain ultimate failure and overthrow."

" Notwithstanding which, I have the greatest
admiration for Napoleon," said Rug.

" The Captain's sentiments are mine," said the
Chief. " He was a man of no conscience, no
heart, and one of the most uncompromising
enemies of constitutional liberty that the world
has ever seen. I am amazed that a born repub-
lican like you, Rug, could see anything to
admire in despotism or tyranny."

" Did you see anything of poor Josephine ? "
asked Abbie.

" No," he said. " The Empress Queen Dow-
ager died two years ago, but we saw her beauti-
ful home, ' Malmaison.'

" If one may judge from appearances, it will
take many years for France to recover from the
effects of the Reign of Terror. My object, how-
ever, in visiting France and England was that I
might see something of their progressive develop-
ments in agriculture and commerce, so that we
might adopt the newest and best methods in
163

The White Chief of the Ottawa

building up our own little colony. I have
brought with me," he continued, " the latest
novelties in the way of general merchandise ; I
have brought the newest inventions in agricul-
tural and milling machinery ; I have Hereford-
shire and Devon cattle, of most renowned
ancestors, who have not ceased to protest against
a sea voyage from the time they left Liverpool.

" Nor is this all," he said ; " I have something
better still on board for the new settlement,
namely, twenty-five English families, who are
going to take up land in the township and pay
for it in work."

" And who nearly turned mutineers," added
the captain, slapping him on the shoulder, " did
they not, Wright ? "

" How was that ? " asked the Chief.

" When we boarded the vessel at Liverpool,"
replied Rug, "some were bright and cheerful,
but most of them were in tears, which showed
that they did not leave the Old Land without a
struggle. We soon weighed anchor and were
under sail with a fair wind, but it came round
to the east and blew fresher, so that we were
forced to come to anchor not far from the place
we left. The ship, as you may see, was fitted
up for the timber trade, and has only a small
cabin or quarter-deck. On each side are ranged
two tiers of berths for passengers providing their
164

A Perilous Journey

own bedding. Along the open space in the
middle we placed two rows of large chests which
were used sometimes as tables, sometimes as
seats — all of which I shall show you presently.
There was much noise and confusion before all
found berths ; crying children, swearing sailors,
scolding women, who had not been able to secure
the beds they wanted, produced a chorus of a very
melancholy nature. The disagreeableness of it
was heightened by the darkness of the night
and the rolling and tossing of the ship. After
breakfast, as usual, all began to be sick. I took
the advice of the sailors and drank some salt
water, which acted as an emetic, and I soon felt
better.

" Unfortunately, while we were still at anchor,
boats came from the shore with friends of the
sailors, who smuggled a lot of liquor on board,
and before the captain discovered it the whole
crew was drunk. We were wakened at an early
hour next morning by the violent motion of the
ship, for there was a perfect gale blowing from
the north-west. The sea was roaring and
foaming around us. The passengers were all
sick. Things grew worse and worse. Conster-
nation and alarm were in every face. Children
were crying, women wringing their hands, and I
could see by the angry looks of the men that
they would like to have thrown me overboard.
165

The White Chief of the Ottawa

The ship had little ballast, and it mounted the
waves like a feather. Sometimes a hard sea
would break over her with a shock that would
make every one stagger. After a sleepless
night, in which I received many a bruise and
uttered many a groan, the captain informed us
that the squall had carried away our mainyard
and rigging, and that we were on our way back
to Bristol to refit. At one time, when the ship
was on her side, several chests, though strongly
lashed to the deck, broke from their moorings,
and in their progress downwards carried de-
struction to everything on which they happened
to fall.

" What a sight the deck presented ! Do you
remember, Captain? Clothes, spoons, shoes,
hats, bottles, dishes, were strewn about in endless
confusion. The next day the captain returned
with the mainyard dragging behind his boat,
but owing to a strong head wind we could not
prepare nor rig it till the following day, when all
the men on board who could get round it as-
sisted at the work, and we were soon speeding
along at the rate of six miles an hour with a
fine favorable breeze.

" The next day we made one hundred miles

in twelve hours. I cannot describe what took

place after that, for I was too ill. It was well

that I was ill, for the indignation of the men and

1 66

A Perilous Journey

the fury of the women were almost unbounded
as they thought of having consented to leave
their comfortable cottages to follow me to what
I had represented was a new and better country.

" As we neared the banks of Newfoundland a
most extraordinary phenomenon was produced
by the dashing of the salt water against the bow
of the ship in the evening. The water seemed
on fire and produced a very fine effect. The
next day a mass of ice appeared about two
hundred yards distant. It was almost half a
mile in length, and was moving south-east.
Soon after we found the channel between Cape
Breton and Cape Ray, and got into the ice.
The captain sent eight men to the bow with
fenders. One piece knocked splinters off the
bow and threw us all down. About five days
later we reached the Island of Anticosti, but I
was too ill to see it. We saw porpoises in
shoals plunging about the ship, while the sailors
tried to harpoon them beneath the bow. About
two hundred and eighty miles below Quebec
the pilot came on board. His number was
painted in large characters on his sail as well as
on his boat. He had a cask of fresh water and
some maple sugar, which he sold at an extor-
tionate price to the passengers.

" Near Bic Island we saw whales spouting
water at a great height, and a habitant came out
167

The White Chief of the Ottawa

in a boat with a large basket of eggs, which he
disposed of at a shilling per dozen, and so we
continued on until the domes and towers of
Quebec came in sight and I began to realize the
inexpressible joy of being at home once more."*

Rug was a young man of great executive
ability, a young man whose word could be re-
lied upon with absolute certainty, a young
man who proved himself the very soul of honor
in all his business transactions.

The rare, practical, common sense shown in
the expenditure of twelve thousand dollars in
the Mother Land inspired the Chief with such
confidence in his son that when, a few years later,
he appealed for funds for the construction of
timber slides at the Chaudiere and the Chats,
of which he was the inventor, his father had
no hesitation in entrusting him with over one
hundred thousand dollars.

* Diary of Rev. Robert Bell and letters of R. Wright.

168

CHAPTER XVII.

A DOUBLE TRAGEDY.
1819.

HULL was en fete. There was not a mill, shop,
or dwelling but had its display of bunting and
evergreens, for the new Governor-General and
Commander-in-Chief of Canada, Charles, fourth
Duke of Richmond, Lennox and Aubigny, had
sent a courier through the woods from Rich-
mond to inform the Chief of his intention of
spending an afternoon and night in Hull, before
embarking on the steamer for Montreal.

The announcement had thrown the whole
population into a state of great excitement, for
there were not many places in the backwoods
settlement in which a duke could reasonably
expect hospitality. It therefore fell to Mr.
Wright's lot to have the honor of entertaining
His Grace, and great and costly had been the
preparations.

An hour before the time appointed for meet-
ing him, a flotilla of bark canoes, with gay
pennants floating in the breeze, drew up before
169

The White Chief of the Ottawa

the Richmond Landing to await his arrival.
They waited and waited, but he came not.

" Is he a Scotchman or an Irishman ? " asked
one.

" He is a Scotchman by birth and an Irish-
man by nature, I believe," replied the Chief.
" He has the frank, benevolent, open-hearted
manner so characteristic of the Irish, is a lover
of fast men and fast horses, and enjoys a mid-
night carouse occasionally."

" Whatever induced him to take such a trip
at this time of the year ? Why did he not come
up the Rideau in a canoe instead of walking
overland from Kingston ? " asked another.

" Surely he was not after big game at this
time of the year," said Caleb Bellows, who kept
a small shop at the Landing.

" He could have chosen a much more pleasant
route and a more pleasant time of the year,
when there were fewer mosquitoes and less
heat, if it was a pleasure trip he wanted," said
Bearie."

" I guess he reckoned on makin' a pilgrimage
on foot to the Holy City of Richmond to atone
for his sins, for I hear he's no saint," ventured
Billy Snickel, who presented a grotesque appear-
ance in his grandfather's velvet coat, knee-
breeches and silk hat. Billy never was prepos-
sessing in appearance, even when dressed in
170

A Double Tragedy

velvet. His face had numerous creases and
puckers, and resembled in color the foot of a
goose, which indicated defective secretion on
the part of the liver, and which was probably
caused by excessive use of gin and tobacco.
The hairs of his head were very coarse and
wiry, and stood on end quite independently of
each other, which gave him much the appearance
of a porcupine.

"The Holy City of Richmond," as Snickel
called it, was a settlement which had sprung up
on the River Jock, about ten miles distant, a
year previously. The settlers were all officers
and soldiers of the 99th and looth regiments,
who had received grants of land from the
Government, and who had decided to call the
settlement Richmond, in honor of the new
Governor, who, on his arrival at Quebec on
H. M. S. Iphigenia, ordered a Royal salute to be
fired from the Citadel guns as they left for their
new home in the wilderness. They landed at a
point south of the Chaudiere Island, where the
women and children remained until the men cut
a road through the woods to their grants, where
they proceeded to erect temporary dwelling-
places. Their landing-place at the beginning
of the Richmond Road was known as Richmond
Landing, and it was there that they had all
gathered to await the coming of the Duke.
171

The White Chief of the Ottawa

" It is whispered in political circles," said one,
"that the Duke of Wellington — realizing the
blundering policy of his predecessors, thirty-
seven years ago, in submitting without a word
to our friends over the border taking so large a
stretch of the south shore of the St. Lawrence
within their boundaries — has decided to estab-
lish a new route to the West, in order to avoid
the possibility of the only means of communica-
tion between Montreal and Upper Canada
being cut off in case of any further trouble that
might arise. It would not be surprising if the
new Governor had an idea of recommending
to the Iron Duke the old Iroquois route from
the St. Lawrence, near Kingston, to the Grand
River, by way of the Rideau River and lakes.
The whole route could be made navigable by
means of a series of canals."

"Why was it called the Iroquois route?"
interrupted a lean, lanky individual, with hands
thrust deep into his pockets, who shifted his
weight from one foot to the other.

" Because the Iroquois found it much shorter
and more direct in coming from New York
State on their incursions into the Algonquin
country," replied the Chief. "But why, why
does not the Governor come?" he continued,
consulting his watch for the forty-second time
172

A Double Tragedy

" It is now three o'clock, and he said he would
be here about ten."

" How are our military friends getting on,"
asked Captain Le Breton, who had a small farm
in the neighborhood of the Landing.

" Shure, it was bad luck to thim," interrupted
a ruddy, good-natured-looking Irishman. "Before
some of thim military gintlemen could get a
house built, the weather got so cold that no
wonder two of the children died."

The speaker was a young man named
Nicholas Sparks, who with two of his friends,
named Daniel Byrne and Thomas Bedard, had
been engaged by Rug as farm laborers at
Quebec, in September, 1816; his friends having
deserted at Montreal.

Sparks was still in the employ of the Chief,
and though illiterate, possessed great common
sense, rare practical cleverness, boundless energy,
and was respected by all who knew him.

" I went out to see Captain Monk recently,"
replied the Chief, "and found that they have
secured grants of land ranging from one hundred
to one thousand acres, and as no survey had
ever been made of the township, they chose
their sites and commenced building. The
Government recently made a survey, and the
Monks discovered that they had built on Lieu-
173

The White Chief of the Ottawa

tenant Read's land, so they are going to build a
larger and more comfortable house at Point
Pleasant next summer. Captain Weatherby
built his house on Captain Street's land, and as
Captain Street had a house of his own, they
decided to convert it into a church, where they
all meet on Sunday mornings, and one of them
reads prayers. Mrs. Monk, who spent several
weeks with us while her husband and his soldier
servants constructed their first house in the
woods, which they called ' Mosquito Cove,' made
light of the inconveniences and experiences of
pioneer life, and laughingly pointed to a large
tin tray which, she said, had served as a shelter
for the baby in its cradle. ' It gave me a great
sense of satisfaction last fall,' she said, ' to hear
the tinkle, tinkle of the raindrops, and to feel
that baby at least was cosy and dry, for our roof
is not altogether rainproof.' She referred also
to the flutter of excitement among the neigh-
bors caused by the loss of the only darning-
needle in the settlement. The whole feminine
population turned out to search for it. It was
much in demand, and went a continual round of
visits from house to house. Fortunately it was
found, and they all adjourned to the house of
Mrs. Pinhey to express their rejoicings over a
cup of tea.

"They are making extensive plans for the

A Double Tragedy

future. Streets are being surveyed, and building
lots laid out. They will have a park of six
acres, and are reserving large grants for ecclesi-
astical purposes."*

Soon the clatter of horses' hoofs was heard,
and a man in military trousers and homespun
shirt galloped down to where they had gathered,
with the startling announcement :

" The Duke is dead! He was playing with a
tame fox which, unknown to us all, had gone
mad," the courier continued. " It bit him. He
was in a fearfully nervous condition all night, but
decided to come on. He got into a boat to
come down to Chapman's, where your waggon
was waiting for him, sir," he said, turning to the
Chief, " but when we were about five miles from
Richmond he leaped out of it and rushed wildly
through the woods, and they found him in
Chapman's barn in a fit. Dr. Collis bled him,
but he died before anything more could be
done. We laid the body in the waggon and
covered it with a sheet, and the officers and
soldiers formed themselves into a guard, and will
soon be here."

* Previous to the construction of the locks, it seemed as
though Richmond was destined to become an important city at
an early date, but the public works offered so many inducements
for men to come to Bytown that it dwindled down to a mere
village.

12 i?5

The "White Chief of the Ottawa

The awe and consternation on every face was
indescribable, and when at last the solemn
cortege came in sight they all, with bared heads,
gathered round the waggon to look upon the
lifeless form, clad in the uniform of a British
general.

The Duke's two attendants, who had followed
him all the way, were too overcome with grief
to be able to give an intelligent account of the
tragedy.

" The steamer is in," said the Chief. " One of
you had better cross over at once and tell
Captain Stewart to lose no time in getting up
steam. And you, Rug," he said, "had better
relieve the suspense at home. Tell them that I
shall see the body safely to Montreal. Any of
you," he continued, addressing the crowd, " who
wish to pay your last respects to the Commander-
in-Chief should come with us."

In less than two hours the body was conveyed
to the little steamer on a rude stretcher, and
they were soon en route for Montreal.

In the meantime Rug had reached home and
found them all in tears. Chrissy was wringing
her hands in anguish of spirit.

" O Rug ! Rug ! " she said, " have you heard
the sad news ? "

" Yes," he replied ; " but how could you have
heard it so soon ? "

176

A Double Tragedy

" Mike brought it from the farm," she said.

" And how could Mike have known about
it ? " he asked.

Chrissy could not answer. She had lost all
control of her feelings.

" I don't see why you should make such a
fuss about it," he said ; " he was no relation of
yours — you never even saw him."

A strange, questioning look came into the
sister's face as she struggled to suppress her
emotions.

" Why do you speak in such a strange way —
have you been drinking, Rug ? " she said.

" Drinking ! " he exclaimed, disdainfully, " did
you ever see me drunk ? This is no time for
drinking. Where's mother ? "

" She went to comfort poor Sarah as soon as
she heard of the accident," replied Chrissy.

" And why should Sarah feel so badly about it,
pray ? Women are the strangest mortals I ever
met. Hannah is the only sensible one among
them."

He threw himself on a couch and began to
survey the decorations in the room, which were
as pretty as womanly taste could make them.

" Come now, Chrissy, dry your tears and get
me something to eat like a dear girl — do — for I
am awfully hungry." 4

" Could you not wait a little longer ? The
177

The White Chief of the Ottawa

Duke may be here at any time, and you will
have no appetite left for the good dinner that I
fear will be spoiled if he does not come soon."

" What are you talking about, Chrissy ? " said
Rug. " Did you not hear that the Duke is
dead?"

' " No," she replied. " And did you not hear
that Phil was killed yesterday ? " her voice
almost incoherent with sobs.

"What!" he cried, " Phil— dead ? Is it
possible ? Is it possible ? How did it happen ? "

" Mike said that he decided to return from
Montreal by stage, and that the horses baulked
on a dangerous hill near the Rouge. The stage
was overturned and he was thrown out violently
and his neck was broken. His wife knew
nothing of it until they carried his body in."

Rug tried to catch the steamer that he might
break the news to his father, but was too late ;
he had left with the remains of the Duke, and
heard nothing of the accident until his return

178

COLONEL BY.

CHAPTER XVIII.

AN EXCITING MOOSE-HUNT.
1826.

AN interesting group of gentlemen was seated
round a table covered with maps and papers in
the dining-room of the Chief's house, arranging
plans for the building of the Rideau Canal.
They had been discussing for over an hour the
relative merits of three different points at which
the canal should diverge from the Ottawa River.

"Anyone with half an eye could see that there
is but one spot where the locks of the new canal
should be constructed, and that is at Rafting
Bay, between Nepean Point and the Western
Bluff," said a soldierly-looking man, about five
feet ten in height, with dark hair, florid com-
plexion, and portly form, who wore the uniform
of an officer. It was Colonel By, a Royal
Engineer sent out by the British Government
to overlook the work of strengthening the
military defences of Canada. "The men who
made the survey," he continued, " did not count
the cost of such works if constructed at the
mouth of the Rideau. Think of the height of
it ! We want a connecting point with the
179

The White Chief of the Ottawa

Ottawa River which will be less steep and
abrupt."

" In my opinion," said the Chief, " you should
follow the natural undulation between the
Rideau and the Ottawa River above the Chau-
diere Falls, and surmount the cataract by locks,
which could easily be constructed on the south
side of the river, as the north side is not avail-
able owing to the existence of our lumber slides.
This would throw the upper Ottawa open for
navigation."

" I assure your Excellency," said the Colonel,
ignoring the suggestion and addressing a digni-
fied -and thoughtful-looking man of courtly
manners, " there is but one place for the junction
of the canal with the Ottawa River, and that is
the place I have designated. The cost of con-
structing the connecting link for a mile south-
ward to the Rideau will be as nothing compared
with the cost of building the locks at the Rideau
Falls."

" I am quite convinced that your conclusion is
a sound one," said Lord Dalhousie, " but I would
like to have Colonel Durnford's opinion in the
matter."

"Since inspecting the proposed route this
morning, gentlemen," said the Colonel, " I quite
agree with Colonel By, that the attempt to con-
struct locks at the mouth of the Rideau would
1 80

An Exciting: Moose-Hunt

be highly undesirable ; but that is not the only
fault that I find with the plans. The specifica-
tions provide for a canal which would be so
narrow as to be entirely unsuifed for military
service as well as for the commercial require-
ments of the country. It would seem desirable,
therefore, that your Excellency should urge
upon the War Department the necessity of
making the canal sufficiently wide to take
vessels from one hundred and ten to one hun-
dred and thirty feet long and forty to fifty feet
wide and drawing eight feet of water."

" I agree with you," said Lord Dalhousie,
" We are building for the future of the country.
Let us build well. What is the expenditure of
an additional amount of twenty or thirty thou-
sand pounds to the British Government when
we consider the issues at stake?"*

* In the eyes of the parliamentarians of London, who knew
nothing of the country or the work, the sum seemed enormous.
A Committee of the House of Commons was appointed, before
whom Colonel By was summoned. The members treated him
with scant courtesy, and no acknowledgment of his valuable
services to the Empire was made. Colonel Durnford, R.E.,
an officer of unusually high character and great experience, was
treated in a manner ill-befitting his rank and services. The
only charge against him was that he had expended twenty-two
thousand pounds in excess of the parliamentary grant, a most
trivial offence, as he had been instructed " to proceed with all
despatch consistent with economy." Colonel By was deeply
hurt by such criticisms, and died a few years later from a disease
directly attributable to the unjust treatment he had received. —
Edwards, 181

The White Chief of the Ottawa

Among other matters of importance discussed
at the meeting was the desirability of uniting
the two sides of the river — the two provinces —
by a bridge. It was finally decided to call for
tenders the following day, when the formal
ceremony of turning the first sod in the build-
ing of the canal would be performed by Lord
Dalhousie.

The visitors had accepted the invitation of
the Chief to go on a moose-hunting expedition
up the Gatineau. It was early morning in the
first week of October when a party of eight left
for Dearie's farm on the banks of the Gatineau.
As they drove through the orchard which sloped
gently eastward to the creek below, the trees
presented an unusually gay appearance bending
under their weight of mellow apples, some of
crimson and some of a rich golden hue.

Following the Columbia road through groves
of brilliant maple and sombre pine, they arrived
in due time on the banks of the river opposite
an island, where men, canoes, and provisions
were waiting for them. Their destination was
the vicinity of a large cave at Wakefield, some-
times called the " mammoth cave," where they
had arranged to camp for several days.

The party consisted of Lord Dalhousie,
Colonel By, Colonel Durnford, the Chief, Bearie,
Christie, a Frenchman named Joe Leclaire, an
182

An Exciting Moose-Hunt

Irish cook named Michael O'Flanagan, and
Ephraim Meyers, a Yankee, who had the reputa-
tion of being the best shot in the settlement.

The Governor was the life of the party, and
related many amusing incidents connected with
his varied experiences in the wilds of Canada,
which kept the men in good-humor, notwith-
standing the numerous and difficult portages.

On reaching the camp-ground all hands were
soon at work pitching tents, building a fire and
attending to other necessary preparations; after
which they sat round the fire while Michael
prepared the evening meal.

" Well, Mike," said Colonel By, " what do you
think of this country? How does it compare
with ould Oireland ? "

" Och, sur," said Michael, respectfully touching
his hat, " I niver seed the loike. Them skeeters
bates all that iver I seen — the knaves ! " —
rubbing his hands and arms vigorously — " shure
they drive me narely mad. I niver shall forgit
the furst time they swarumed around me like a
a swarum of bays, an' I tuk me blankits and ran
down to the river an' roulled mesilf up and went
to shlape on the rocks. Well, sur, d'ye think
they'd lave a poor crathure alone? Not thim, the
brutes ! Shure as you're alive, sur, they came out
with their lanterns an' ye'd see a flash here and
a flash there ; an' kill 'em ? ye moight as well try
183

The White Chief of the Ottawa

to kill the divil himsilf, for soon as I could get
nare them, out would go their light, an' they'd
all cum buzzin' round tazin' and tormintin' me.

" Sez I to mesilf, ' Begorra, whin I get yez I'll
finish yez; so I will, begorra, I will.' Well, sur,
I'm tellin' yez the truth whin I say that they
began pipin' out : ' Begorra ! begorra ! begorra ! '
and their mates cried out, ' Ye will ? Ye will ?
Ye will ? ' till I cud shtand it no longer, so I put
for the shanty as quick as me two legs could
carry me."

By this time all the men round the camp-fire
were in fits of laughter, in which the Irishman
joined heartily. His superstitious dread of
' skeeters,' was modified when they explained to
him that fire-flies, frogs and tree-crickets had
contributed each a share to the tragic drama.

" Could you not give us a few suggestions
which will assist us in becoming successful
moose-hunters ? " said Lord Dalhousie, address-
ing Meyers, who stood bare-headed, sheltering
with his hat a faint flickering flame on a piece
of " punk," which had been kindled by a tiny
spark from his flint and steel, while he tried to
light his pipe.

" Wai," he said, " I reckon there's only two

ways to shoot a moose : one is to coax him

within range by imitating the call of his mate ;

the other way is to make a salt lick for him. At

184

An Exciting Moose-Hunt

this time of the year the buck begins to harden
his horns, and he lies on the sides of the hills in
the sun and rubs his horns against the bushes to
get off the bark or velvety skin. If you want to
get a crack at him you'll have to be mighty sly
and keep to leeward of him, for if the wind
blows from you to him he will scent you-
Always hunt against the wind, and when you
sight one aim at the knee of the fore-leg. Then
raise the muzzle slowly until you sight the body
following up the leg. Don't hold your breath
or it will make you tremble. Breathe freely
until you are ready to pull the trigger."

Meyers paused for a moment to take a few
whiffs from his pipe.

" What do you mean by a salt lick ? " asked
Colonel By, who sat with his back securely
gummed to the trunk of a spruce tree, with both
hands thrust into his pocket.

" It's just an easy way of gettin' a shot at
a deer," replied Meyers. " You choose a place
where he'll be likely to pass, and put some salt
in the hollow of an old log, or in a hole near the
foot of a tree. Then you climb the tree and sit
there and wait, and when the deer comes to lick
the salt you may safely unhitch the contents of
your rifle, for they rarely observe anything higher
than their heads."

"There is one important fact which applies
185

The White Chief of the Ottawa

not only to moose-hunting but also to hunting
in general, and which should not be forgotten,"
said Bearie, who lay full length on his blanket
with his chin resting on his hands. " Never go
to see what you have shot without first reload-
ing your gun. The animal may not be badly
wounded, and may run away or may attack
you."

"If you happen to get sight of a buck, a doe
and a fawn together, for they generally keep
together at this time of the year," said Meyers,
" aim at the doe first, for the buck and the fawn
will both stay round ; then aim at the buck, and
you will probably secure all three."

Several days passed. The party had not
sighted anything in the way of large game,
though they had discovered numerous evidences
that the neighborhood was frequented by moose.

One evening they had all returned to the
camp save Colonel Durnford and Christie.
Overcome by their exertions, the remainder of
the party, with the exception of the Chief, had
retired early and slept heavily. A low moaning
wind had arisen and was sobbing round the
camp.

"What was that?" said the Chief, rousing

Bearie, who was on his feet in a moment. " It

sounded like a shriek, followed by a strange

laugh, like the laugh of a maniac. Colonel

1 86

An Exciting Moose-Hunt

Durnford and Christie have not returned yet,
and I fear something has happened."

They listened intently. Nothing could be
heard but the wind whistling through the half-
naked branches of the trees and rustling the
dead leaves that covered the ground. The moon
fell in slanting rays across the Laurentian hills.
Dark clouds were hurrying up from the horizon,
and soon the whole scene was plunged in
darkness.

" Hush ! there it is again," said the Chief, in
a state of breathless expectancy. "It seems to
be coming nearer. Could either of them have
met with an accident, I wonder ? "

Rousing the others, they seized their guns
and followed the narrow path along the bank of
the river in the direction whence the sound
seemed to come. All was darkness — utter
darkness. Suddenly there was a wild scream
from the forest on the opposite bank. Its
echoes had hardly ceased when it was answered
by a similar cry from the trees above, followed
by the same strange laugh. It proved to be the
voice of the white-headed eagle calling to his
mate.

What had become of Christie and the Colonel

was the question which perplexed the mind of

every man in the party. They called and called

again, but there was no answer. They penetrated

187

The "White Chief of the Ottawa

into the woods with lighted torches, but could
find no trace of them. They discharged an old
Queen Anne gun, which had the reputation of
making the loudest report of any of the fire-
arms in their possession, but there was no
response.

At the first glimmer of daylight they organized
a search-party, but not until late in the after-
noon was suspense relieved by the return of the
missing pair to the camp.

" We must have walked five miles," said the
Colonel, "following the course of a small stream.
On ascending a low hill we looked cautiously
over its crest. Before us was a scene I shall
never forget. Several huge animals were stand-
ing within range under a clump of willows,
nibbling at their twigs. The tall, broad, palm-
like antlers that rose from the head of one of
them, the immense size and ungainly forms, the
long legs and ass-like ears, the immense heads
with overhanging lips, the short necks with their
standing manes, left no doubt in my mind that
they were moose, for I had never before seen
one. They were all of a dark brown color,
almost blackish in the distance, the large one
being darker than the others.

" Christie handed me the gun, motioning me
to move quietly. I must have lost my head, for
all the first principles of moose-hunting slipped
1 88

An Exciting Moose-Hunt

out of my mind, as I aimed at the high shoulders
of the old bull, hoping to secure his antlers as a
trophy. When I fired the doe and the fawn
scrambled down hill towards the beaver-meadow
below. I could see that the bull was not with
them, and concluded that he was dead. Rushing
forward without reloading my gun, to my great
astonishment I found him on his knees, wounded.
As soon as he saw me he rose to his full height,
his eyes flashing fire, and lowering his horns in
a forward position, he sprang at me. Dropping
my gun I stepped behind a huge beech tree, the
moose following close upon my heels. I had
just time to get behind it when he rushed past,
tearing the bark with his antlers. He turned
and made another charge, only to find that I
was in a safe position on the opposite side of the
tree. Rushing up to the tree he struck it
furiously with his horns, then with his hoofs,
uttering loud snorts that were enough to intimi-
date even a military man. The disappointment
which the enraged animal felt at seeing my
escape added to his rage, and he vented his spite
upon the tree until the trunk, to the height of
six feet, was completely stripped of its bark.
While this was going on I remained behind the
tree, dodging round, always taking care to keep
the infuriated brute on the opposite side. For
over an hour this lasted. I was beginning to
189

The White Chief of the Ottawa

feel faint with fatigue. I could see that the
bullet had hit the left shoulder, and, after tearing
the skin, had glanced off."

" Where was Christie all the time ? " inter-
rupted the Chief. " Why did he not secure the
gun?"

" On seeing the encounter I climbed a tree,"
said Christie. " It was the only thing I could
do. I could not get hold of the gun, for it was
under the feet of the moose. I could not have
reached the ammunition, because the Colonel
had it."

" I must admit," said Colonel Durnford, " that
I began to feel serious alarm. Any attempt on
Christie's part to have approached me would
have imperilled his life and mine, too. I began
to realize the necessity for action, and so did
Christie, and he called to me to escape to the
nearest tree with branches sufficiently low to be
easily climbed. Suddenly I caught sight of a
spruce a few yards off, and waiting for the
moose to work round to a favorable position, I
sprang towards it and sheltered myself behind
it. I laid hold quickly of an overhanging
branch and swung myself up to a safe place on
a strong limb of the tree. The moose arrived a
second later, snorting furiously, and began to
attack the tree, as he had the other, with hoofs
and horns. He kept it up till darkness came
190

An Exciting Moose-Hunt

on, then quietly took up a position at the foot of
the tree, from which he hardly stirred all night
long."

" What a night ! " exclaimed Christie. " Will
you ever forget it, Colonel? How the wolves
howled ! A whole pack of them scented us.
Once or twice the moon shone out, revealing
their gaunt, shadowy forms and flashing eyes.
It was enough to make one's hair stand on end.
So bitter and penetrating was the night wind
that it had a paralyzing effect upon us both.
Before morning came we had decided upon a
plan. We knew the wolves would give us no
trouble, for they always disappear with daylight,
so we arranged to have the Colonel engage the
attention of the moose while I should attempt
to secure the gun, which still lay at the foot of
the beech tree ; and that I should manoeuvre
with the moose while the Colonel approached as
near as possible and flung to me the ammunition.
The scheme worked admirably. I was able,
after several unsuccessful attempts, for the
powder was not quite dry, to send a bullet
through his heart."

After a hearty meal Christie undertook to
guide Meyers and Joe to the spot where the
body of the moose lay, for they were detailed to
guard it from the wolves and to bring it down
the creek in a canoe the next morning.
13 191

The White Chief of the Ottawa

Fortune seemed to turn in favor of the
hunters, for a young fawn fell a victim to a well-
directed bullet from Lord Dalhousie's gun next
morning, and another was secured by the Chief.

Moose-hunting was not the only form of
entertainment provided for the party. The
old country visitors took a keen delight in
drawing from the men stories of their adventures
in the new world, which were mainly true, and
were given in their own dialect.

One evening, as the shadows of darkness were
creeping on and all were gathered round the
camp-fire, the Chief said :

" Come,, now, Joe, we want you to tell the
gentlemen a story."

Seated on a log, dangling his legs, was the
diminutive Frenchman, with coarse gray home-
spun shirt and knitted tuque drawn down to
his ears, which stuck out almost at right angles
from the head. He glanced at the Governor,
and then at the red-coated officers, with evident
dread and apprehension.

"Now, Leclaire," said the Chief, "don't be
afraid. Tell your bear story."

Slowly removing his tuque, " Little Joe," as he
was familiarly called, began to scratch his head
thoughtfully as if to rake up reminiscences.
Suddenly his sickly, pock-pitted face lighted up
and his black eyes indicated that he had
192

An Exciting; Moose-Hunt

succeeded in scratching up something to tell
about.

" Wan tarn," he said, " when we work on de
Got-no, I cut de whood, me, pour mak le souper,
an' when I go back le shaintee — sacr6 bleu ! —
wan beeg bear she am got her head in de soup-
pot. I trow down de whood an' run, me, for
shure, lak wan wile moose. De bear she am
skeart, an' she run, too. Le pot she steek on,
too, lac wan blak hat. Dunno, me, how she fine
le reever, but she run, and she sweem wit dat
black pot till she reach the odder shore. Me
an' de boss we tak le canot an' de gun pour
chasser le bear an' we fine de pot, but we no see
de bear."

" Bravo ! old man ; that's not bad," said Lord
Dalhousie.

"Your turn now, Ephraim," said the Chief,
addressing Meyers, who, ignoring the remark,
went on smoking. There was an embarrassing
silence as all eyes rested on the withered-looking
face of the Yankee, who was evidently not ready
with his contribution to the entertainment of the
evening.

" Tell us about the squaw you found in the
woods," suggested Christie.

" Wai," he said, " onct upon a time when we
were runnin' the fifth concession line with Theo-
dore Davis, we found an ole squaw who had been
i93

The "White Chief of the Ottawa

deserted by her children and left to find her way
to Davy Jones's locker as best she could. Her
poor ole body was bent almost double. She
seemed very weak. Her only clothing was rab-
bit-skins sewed together with sinews, with the
hair side next her skin. She mumbled a lot of
things which we could not understand. D'ye
mind Brown, the feller with the squaw wife ? "
he said, addressing the chief. " Wai, he told us
that she lived on hares which she snared with
sinews, an' that she lived alone an kep' herself
from freezin' in winter by settin' fire to the end
of a fallen log, and as the ashes cooled enough
she would scoop out a nest to lie in. As the
log burned she would follow the warm ashes an'
move her nest closer to the fire, an' when one
log was burned she would kindle another. She
managed in this way to keep body and soul
together for years alone in the forest."

" Is that true ? " asked Colonel By, " or is it
one of your Yankee yarns ? "

" I reckon ye can fine out for yourself," retorted
Meyers.

" It is quite true," said Bearie. " I have never
seen her, but I know several who have."

" Now, Michael, you told us a good story the
other night Could you not tell us another
before we roll ourselves up in our blankets ? "
said the Governor.

194

An Exciting: Moose-Hunt

" Faith, an it's tirrible sorry I am that I'm
not used to public shpaking, fur I cud tell yer
Honor about Shparks an' the bear."

" The best way to become a public speaker,
Mike," said Lord Dalhousie, " is to have some-
thing to say, and just say it, so tell us your
story."

" Me and Shparks wuz in the blacksmith shop
when Joe Wyman, the young shpalpeen, sez he,
' There's a bear in the river bey ant'

" ' Come on, byes,' sez Mr. Rug, ' we'll foller
him up,' sez he. He took down the gun that
hung on the wall forninst him, an I tuk a hand-
shpike forninst me, an Shparks he went out for-
ninstthe blacksmith shop an filled the inside of his
shirt wid shtones, regardliss of shape or forrum ;
an', yer Honor," he said, touching his hat, " be-
fore Shparks an' me cud raitch the shore Mr.
Rug was in the canoe. We cud see the great
brute swimmin' to the island, an' we put after
him as quick as iver we cud, but before we cud
raitch him he had consailed himsilf. We spint
• two hours in searching for the brute, an' Shparks,
who is a very obsarvant man, sez he, ' Begorra !
there he is, as sure as a gun, makin' shtraight for
the cliff.'

" ' Come on, byes,' sez Mr. Rug, ' we'll get aven
wid the crayture yet.'

" Shparks was feelin' pious-like, for it was

The White Chief of the Ottawa

Good Friday, an he didn't feel like fightin' bears
nor min. Sez he, ' Let the poor brute go home
to her cubs.'

" ' Niver a bit of it,' said Mr. Rug, ' we'll not
lit her go till she's kilt.' An' with that he put
after the bear as fast as he cud. When we were
not twinty yards from the baste, Mr. Rug, he
aimed at the bear, but Shparks moved, an' the
bullet went whizzin' into the water. Then
Shparks he began a-peltin' him wid shtones, so
he did, which made the poor baste so mad that
he wheeled round an' was makin' shtraight for
the canoe, when I up wid the handshpike to bate
him, while Mr. Rug was loadin' his gun. Well,
yer Honor, it's tirrible sorry I am to be tellin'
yez that I upset the canoe, an' me an' Shparks
an' the bear wuz all strugglin' in the ragin', foamin'
deep.

" ' Holy angels ! ' sez I, ' save me ! save me !'
The current was so shtrong that it carried me to
the little island forninst the cliff, an' it was mesilf
that was glad when I was washed on a rock near
the shore. Mr. Rug an' Shparks they clung to
the canoe an' drifted down to the shores of the
cliff which the bear wuz engaged in ascendin'.

" ' What's that,' sez I to mesilf, ' comin' across
the river ? It's a boat,' sez mesilf to me, ' wid the
Chief and Mr. Brigham.' Soon they had reached
196

An Exciting Moose-Hunt

the other shore, an' two bullets from their guns
brought the poor crayture tumblin' to the
bottom."

The weather turned exceedingly cold and
wet, and as camping was no longer desirable,
the party packed up their things and left. They
had not gone many miles on their return trip
when the leading canoe scraped a rock. Water
poured in so quickly that the crew, consisting of
the two officers, with Bearie and Joe, had to swim
ashore towing the wreck behind them. Joe was
sent to the woods to gather spruce gum and birch
bark, while the other three tried to kindle a fire-
After much difficulty they succeeded in securing
light rotten wood from the inside of a hollow tree,
sufficiently dry to retain sparks from a flint, and
in a short time three half-frozen men stood
steaming before a huge fire. After two hours
of fruitless search, the Frenchman returned
unable to procure any birch bark, but with a
quantity of gum, which he scraped into a small
iron kettle, together with a small quantity of
fat, and suspended it over the fire.

" Now we are in a dilemma," said Colonel By.
"What shall we do without bark? Shall we
have to go the rest of the way on foot ? "

" Not while there is a homespun shirt around,"
replied Bearie, who was busily engaged in cut-
197

The White Chief of the Ottawa

ting off part of his shirt-sleeve. The piece was
soon smeared with melted gum and fastened
securely over the hole, and in a few minutes the
frail bark was skipping from wave to wave on
the bosom of the mountain torrent till it reached
the Gatineau farm.

198

CHAPTER XIX.

AFTER MANY DA VS.
1827.

IT must not be inferred that the wheels of
incident in connection with the lives of George
Morrison and Chrissy had ceased to move during
the twenty-one years of separation. Strange
things were happening on the lonely shores of
the settlement in the wilderness, where the once
bright and joyous Chrissy was pining away her
life. Still stranger things were happening to
her absent lover.

At first, evil tidings from the Great Lone Land
seemed like a dream from which there would be
a glad awakening. But as days went by, and
still the spell of silence brooded over her heart
and life, and as days ripened into weeks — weeks
into months — months into years — clouds of dis-
appointment overshadowed her life, and Chrissy
began to grow old and careworn. Loved ones
watched her with wistful eyes. Why such a true,
lovely woman had been destined to live on and
on in a dire eclipse was a problem beyond the
comprehension of all.

199

The White Chief of the Ottawa

It was a hot, sultry morning in August
Chrissy and her father were standing on the
south shore of the river with Colonel By, who
was superintending a large staff of workmen
engaged in the construction of the Rideau Canal.
On the eastern point was a pretty villa built
of boulders, and surrounded with a low, wide
veranda, and which, when completed, was
designed to be the residence of the gallant
Colonel. Surrounding it were the tents of the
officers of two companies of Sappers and Miners,
whose smart uniforms added to the picturesque-
ness of the scene. On the adjacent cliff three
stone barracks were being built.

" It is a magnificent site — a magnificent site ! "
said the Colonel, then dreamily added : " It
would not surprise me to see a fortress like the
Castle St. Louis on that bluff some day."

A busy scene presented itself between the two
cliffs, where scores of men with picks, shovels,
hand-drills, wheel-barrows, and stone drays, were
busily excavating. Stone-masons, with their
mallets and chisels, were compelled to stop every
few minutes to wipe the perspiration from their
brows with their shirt-sleeves. Irish and Scotch
they were mostly, their coarse homespun shirts
contrasting with the neat undress uniform of the
officers who were supervising the building of the
barracks and assisting in the works.
200

After Many Days

Two men, with muskets, from one of the back
settlements then accosted the Chief in an excited
state of mind, and asked if it were another
American invasion that they were preparing for.

" We heard the sound of your cannon," they
said, " miles away, and we followed in the direc-
tion from whence the sound came, and when we
saw the soldiers and the men engaged on the
defences we were convinced that we had good
grounds for our fears."

The Colonel enjoyed the joke immensely, as
did the workmen, who had a hearty laugh at the
expense of the backwoodsmen.

Mr. MacKay, the contractor, observing the
embarrassment of the poor fellows, said :

" I trust that our men always will be as ready
to take up arms in defence of their country if the
need arises. They are brave, loyal fellows."

Just then they observed a canoe approaching.

" It looks like one of the big canoes of the
Hudson's Bay Company," said the Chief.

The canoe was manned by four Indians, with
three white men comfortably seated in the bot-
tom. On landing, a man of about forty, whose
head and face looked as though they had not
been disturbed by scissors or razor for several
months, approached the party. Though poorly
clad, his voice and manner and general bearing
denoted him a gentleman and an Englishman.

201

The "White Chief of the Ottawa

" We saw the storm approaching," he said,
" and thought we would take shelter here, and
see what is going on. May I ask," he con-
tinued, turning to Colonel By, " whom I have
the pleasure of addressing ? "

" I am Colonel By, of the Royal Engineers,"
replied the officer.

"And what are you excavating for?" he
asked.

" A military canal of about one hundred and
twenty miles in length," replied the Colonel,
" which will give us a safer route to the West
than the St. Lawrence route. You have the
advantage of us," he added. " What is your
name, sir ? "

"My name," he said, "is Franklin — John
Franklin — and these are my friends, Richardson
and Morrison. Richardson and I have travelled
about five thousand miles. We have been
exploring the northern coast of the continent.
We travelled over land from Davis Strait west-
ward until we came to the Mackenzie River,
where we found our friend, here," he said, point-
ing to a poor cripple who was being lifted from
the canoe by the Indians.

Since the mention of the name of Morrison
Chrissy had stood transfixed. Could it be that
the tall, powerful, manly figure that she remem-
bered so well could have become so distorted
202

After Many Days

as to be bent almost double? Could it be
possible that the cripple before her was George
— her long-lost George ?

A smile of recognition crossed Morrison's
face as he caught sight of Chrissy. She uttered
a scream of delight — " O George ! George ! Is
it you ? is it you ? "

For a time the two were too overcome to be
able to utter a word. The expression of peace
and joy and hope which Chrissy possessed even
as a girl in the old convent days was more
noticeable now, not only in her face but in her
whole manner.

It was the same sweet, modest face, tne same
earnest love-lit eyes which had so long reigned
in George's heart, kindling within him the
resignation and hope which had sustained him
through years of suffering, that greeted him as
he stood on the beach.

What did it matter to them that the curious
gaze of scores of onlookers was centred upon
them ? Totally oblivious to all but themselves,
he grasped her hand, but was too overcome with
emotion to be able to utter a word.

"This is an unexpected pleasure," said the
Colonel, at length, shaking hands with them
warmly. " Come, let us seek shelter in my tent,
and you must all dine with me to-night."

" Could anything have been more pathetic,"
203

The White Chief of the Ottawa

said Captain Franklin to the Chief, as they
ascended the cliffs, " than your daughter's eager
welcome of her lover ? " Not only he, but others
who saw the meeting, shared the unalloyed bliss
of the two who were just on the threshold of
their new life of love and companionship.

Hardly had they reached the Colonel's tent
when the threatening storm-cloud burst with all
its fury, carrying away several of the tents and
threatening to sweep everything before it.
Though terrific while it lasted, the clouds soon
dispersed, and the setting sun shone out for an
hour or so, illuminating the sky.

Dinner over, the Colonel said : " Let me
show you one of the most picturesque scenes in
Canada."

They followed their host to the veranda of
his new house, and while Captain Franklin was
admiring the beauties of nature, the Colonel
recounted the difficulties they had to contend
with in erecting the bridge over the Ottawa,
which at the time was obscured by the rising
mist.

" We commenced the work last fall," he said,
'' but I was obliged to spend most of the winter
in Montreal, and after they had constructed the
first arch from the opposite shore the whole
thing collapsed. In order to obtain communica-
tion with the opposite bank at the foot of the
204

After Many Days

falls we got Captain Asterbrooks to take a
cannon to the rocks near where the end of the
bridge would naturally be, so as to fire off a
rope across the channel, a distance of two
hundred and forty feet, to the island.

" For the first trial a half-inch rope was used,
but the force of the powder cut it. The experi-
ment was repeated, but with the same result.
An inch rope was then tried, and it was thrown
on to the island about one hundred feet.

" Having secured the rope at both ends, the
workmen were enabled to haul over larger ones.
A trestle ten feet high was then erected on each
side of the channel, and two ropes stretched
across the tops of the trestles and fastened at
each end to the rocks. These were allowed to
be slack, in order to give greater strength. The
next step was to have a foot passage to allow
workmen to communicate with each other, and
with this object the ropes were placed four feet
apart and planked over, and a rope hand-rail
made on each side. Chains were then placed
across over trestles in a similar manner, and
planked on top, until the planking from each
shore reached within ten feet of joining in the
middle, when the chain broke and precipitated
the workmen and their tools into the channel.
Three of our best men were drowned. The
others swam ashore.

205

The White Chief of the Ottawa

" Though it is extremely difficult and hazard-
ous to build at such a point, I was determined
to succeed, so I had a large scow built and
anchored to a point of rock where the bridge
was to be built. We made stronger trestles of
heavier timber, and got two eight-inch cables,
which we laid across the channel over the
trestles, which we secured to the rocks at each
end. Then we built a wooden bridge, and with
screw-jacks placed on the scow below it was
kept up to its proper level. The work is almost
completed," he said, " and I am determined that
it shall stand, even if I have to build it of silver
dollars."

" Can you see the bridge, Colonel ? " asked the
Chief. " The mist comes and goes. Some-
times it seems as though it were not there."

" Your vision is probably growing defective,"
replied the Colonel.

It was evident to more than the Chief that
the structure had been loosened from its moor-
ings by the gale, and could be seen moving
majestically down stream ; but, knowing the
Colonel's temper, they determined to say nothing
more on the subject.

The account of the construction of the first
bridges over the Ottawa had little of interest for
either George or Chrissy, who sat a little apart
from the others, absorbed in conversation.
206

After Many Days

"On reaching the Fort after our interrupted
meeting," said George, " I was ordered off to the
North to open a new trading-post. Our crew
consisted of one French-Canadian, four Indians,
and myself. We left Fort Chippewyan in July,
our canoe loaded with pemmican, an assortment
of useful and ornamental articles to be given as
gifts to the Indians, to ensure us a friendly
reception among them, and the ammunition and
arms necessary for defence, as well as a supply
for our Indians, upon whom we depended for
our chief supply of provisions, as it was im-
possible to carry all that would be required
before our return.

"Our course, which led from the Ungigah
(Peace) to the Slave River, from thence to the
Dog River, and from that to Slave Lake, was
uneventful. The weather was extremely cold,
and we were much hindered by ice. It was
after we left the lake that our trouble really
commenced. Our guide, who professed to know
the route, mistook a small lake for the river, and
led us into the midst of a tribe of the most
hostile natives, known as the Red Knife Indians.

" My men spoke to these people in the Chip-
pewyan language, and the information they gave
respecting the river for which we were searching
had so much of the fabulous that I shall not
attempt to recall it They said it would require
14 207

The White Chief of the Ottawa

several winters to reach it ; that there was a
great Manitou in the midst of it which consumed
everything that attempted to pass, and that
there were other monsters of horrid shapes and
such destructive powers that all travel on it was
effectually blocked.

" Though I did not believe a word they said,
it had a very different effect upon my Indians,
who were already tired of the voyage. It was
only too evident that they were determined to
return. They said that, according to the
information they had received, there were very
few animals in the country beyond us, and that
as we proceeded the scarcity would increase, and
that we would perish from hunger. Seeing that
this had no effect upon me, they said that some
treacherous design was meditated against me.
A panic had seized them, and any further prose-
cution of the voyage, or of means of escape, was
considered by them as altogether hopeless and
impracticable.

"Without paying the least attention to the
opinions or surmises of my Indians, I ordered
them to take everything out of the canoe, which
had become so leaky that we did not consider it
safe to continue our journey in it. To add to
the perplexity of the situation we had not an
ounce of gum to repair it, and not one of the
men had sufficient courage to venture into the
208

After Many Days

woods to collect it. I dared not leave the crew
with the canoe lest they might prove deserters.
We were under the necessity of making a smoke
to keep off the swarms of mosquitoes, which
would otherwise have tormented us to death,
but we did not venture to excite a blaze, as it
would have been a mark for the arrows of the
Red Knives. Though almost prostrated with
weariness, I dared not sleep, but spent the
night from sunset at 10 p.m. till nearly daylight
at 2 a.m. in plotting and planning means to
bring about a reconciliation with the natives,
which alone would enable me to procure guides}
without whose assistance it would be impossible
for me to proceed.

"Just before sunrise, while sitting quietly in
my tent, from which I could observe the crew,
I heard a slow, stealthy movement in the rear of
the tent. Turning hastily to investigate, I could
see the dim figure of a man, dagger in hand,
creeping under the canvas. In a moment I
jumped on him, disarmed him, and secured his
hands and feet with the fathoming-line, which
fortunately was within reach. During the scuffle
my whole crew fled to the canoe and escaped,
leaving me at the mercy of the natives."

By this time the Chief had become an inter-
ested listener, and had beckoned to the others,
who joined the little group and were listening
209

The "White Chief of the Ottawa

intently to George as he related his adventures
with the Red Knives.

" How shall I find words," he said, " to depict
the fiendish atrocities perpetrated by that tribe
during* the months and years which followed.
Their greatest cruelty lay in torturing their
victim to the verge of insanity, and in stopping
short of the final act, which would have proved
a most blessed release. Escape was impossible.
Suicide, which seemed so desirable, was forbid-
den by Divine law.

" We had returned to the camp from a hunt-
ing excursion one rainy day, and as they always
insisted upon having me do the paddling up
stream, as well as any other drudgery too diffi-
cult for the squaws, I was steaming from having
been overheated, and as I was on the verge of
exhaustion, fell asleep without sufficient cover-
ing, which I was unable to procure ; consequently
I became a martyr to rheumatism. There I
was, helpless, racked with pains which would
provoke the mildest of men to an Indian war-
dance, and with red-hot joints and swollen
limbs.

'• After three months of misery among them,
I began to suffer many things from many
medicine-men, and was nothing better, but
rather grew worse. I had nauseous medicines
in large doses from one, and small doses from
210

After Many Days

another, with exactly the same results. I was
drenched, and steamed, and packed, and baked,
externally, and almost poisoned internally with
draughts of water which, to say the least, were
unclean ; but all to no purpose. They blew
upon me, and then whistled. They pressed
their extended fingers with all their strength
into me. They put their forefingers doubled
into my mouth, and spouted water from their
own mouths into mine. They applied pieces of
lighted touchwood to my flesh in many places.
They then placed me on a litter made of sap-
lings, and I was carried by four men into the
woods, and as I observed one Indian carrying
fire, another an axe, and a third dry wood, I
could not but conjecture that they had arrived
at the humane conclusion of relieving me of all
pain forever. When we had advanced a short
distance into the woods, they laid me on a clear
spot and kindled a fire against my back. Then
the medicine-men began to scarify my flesh
with blunt instruments.

" A great hole was then dug in the ground,
which I concluded was to be my burial-place.
In this excavation a fire was kept up until the
ground was heated to its utmost extent, when
the embers and ashes were scraped out. Several
layers of damp mud were immediately plastered
over this fiery furnace. I was then placed within
211

The White Chief of the Ottawa

it, and covered with mud, my head alone pro-
truding. For thirty-six hours I endured the
torture of escaping steam, after which they car-
ried me back to my lair in the camp more dead
than alive, where I lingered on in agony, pray-
ing that every day might be my last. I began
to wonder where the limit of human endurance
could be found, and was led to view the situation
philosophically. Why had Infinite Love placed
me in such environment ? Was it to appear as
a witness for Him who had said, ' Father, forgive
them, for they know not what they do ? ' Was
it to bring the light of the Gospel to the Red
Knives ?

" Month after month I lay in the wigwam,
surrounded by the children of the natives, who
in summer were dressed in the uniform which
the Creator had given them, with dangling
necklaces or armlets to decorate them. I soon
acquired sufficient knowledge of their language
to be able to converse with them. After years
of teaching they at length began to regard me
with feelings of superstition and awe, and one
day the Chief proposed a change of treatment.
With a dignified and imperative gesture of the
arm, he bade his attendants carry me in a
blanket to a canoe.

" ' We are not pleased,' he said, ' with the pro-
gress you are making towards recovery, and we
212

After Many Days

have decided to take you to a spring which
possesses strange healing power.'

" I could not understand all the Chief said,
but his manner indicated tenderness and sym-
pathy, which led me to believe that the light
which was beginning to brighten the darkened
lives of many of his people was dawning upon
him also.

" The suggestion of a change of place kindled
in my heart the hope of meeting someone who
could assist me in finding my way back to
civilization once more, and the gnawing pangs
of rheumatism seemed lulled for a time as we
embarked on the peaceful waters of the lake.

" It was a glorious day, not a ripple stirred the
water as our canoe glided over the surface. Not
a breath of wind moved the heavy mist which
rose and floated with silver transparency over
the depths below. We floated rather than pad-
dled down the little river that connected the
lakes. The snow-capped peaks of the distant
mountains glistened with a radiance that was
dazzling as they rose upon our view. It was
like fairy-land. Not a bend in the little stream
but disclosed some glimpse of unexpected
loveliness.

"At last we floated out upon the waters of
Great Slave Lake, and new scenes opened be-
fore us. Far away in the distance the deep blue
213

The White Chief of the Ottawa

waters glowed and sparkled in the blaze of sun-
light. Here and there islands of green con-
trasted with the brightness of the water that lay
between them. Far away ahead of our canoe
there seemed to nestle on the surface of the lake
a small gray cloud. As we approached it I
could just make out the shadow of an island,
and I understood from the conversation of the
Indians that we had at last reached our destina-
tion.

" They carried me over the green mossy turf
to a place where little jets of mineral water were
springing clear and sparkling in the sunlight-
Here they commenced to erect a rude hut. Its
walls and roof were low, enclosing a roughly
levelled floor of earth. We spread our skins
and drew our blankets over us, and soon felt
quite at home in our new quarters. We had
not spent many months on the island before I
felt almost free from pain. Though my joints
were too stiff to walk much, the pains that for
long years had made motion intolerable and life
a misery were almost gone.

" One morning as I lay in the hut watching
my companions as they sat round the fire cook-
ing their mid-day meal, a canoe suddenly came
in sight. I started and rubbed my eyes, think-
ing it a strange illusion, but there before me
were the faces of two white men, the first I had
214

After Many Days

seen since that ever-memorable night when my
crew deserted me. My companions kept their
places before the fire and betrayed not the
slightest surprise or fear while I poured out to
my new-found friends the story of past years-
Captain Franklin offered me a passage in his
canoe, and as I took leave of the Indians, and
explained that the white men would take me
home, they said not a word, but went on smok-
ing their short black pipes as though it were
nothing to them."

During the course of the evening it was ar-
ranged that an important event should take
place at no distant date, George and Chrissy to
reside at the White House. At the same time
Colonel By remarked that it would be an op-
portune time to lay the corner-stone of the locks.
*' We could not do better," he said, " than have
the ceremony quietly performed by one whose
name is a household word on two continents,
one who has braved untold peril and hardship
in his country's service, not only in the Polar
Seas, but at Trafalgar, Copenhagen and New
Orleans, one whose name stands for everything
that is honorable, self-sacrificing and courageous."

" I agree with you," said Mr. MacKay. " Mr.
Redpath, Mr. McTaggart and myself were dis-
cussing the matter this morning, and decided to
suggest to you, sir, that the corner-stone should
215

The White Chief of the Ottawa

be laid with some ceremony, and the work is
sufficiently advanced to have it done to-morrow."

It was finally decided that the ceremony
should take place the following day, August
1 6th, 1827, at 4 p.m.

Upon that corner-stone so " well and truly
laid " was built a city which, in thirty-one short
years, became the capital of a domain nearly
three and a half million square miles larger in
extent than the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, nearly five hundred thou-
sand square miles larger than the United States,
and almost as large as the combined countries
of Europe.

With the laying of the foundation of the city
of Ottawa will ever be associated the names of
Rear Admiral Sir John Franklin, who afterwards
laid down his life in the frozen North in the
cause of his country ; of Lieut-Colonel John
By, who filled so important a place in the public
works of Canada in the construction of two
canals, the building of two Martello towers on
the Plains of Abraham, and whose recommenda-
tions to the Duke of Wellington resulted in the
building of the present fortifications at Quebec ;
of Thomas MacKay, the contractor for the locks,
who afterwards built Rideau Hall ; of John
Redpath, who later settled in Montreal, and
built up one of the largest commercial enter-
216

After Many Days

prises in Canada ; of John McTaggart, clerk of
the works, to whose able pen we are indebted
for much of the history of the time, and who re-
turned to Scotland on the completion of the
work ; and last, but not least, of the White
Chief of the Ottawa, the pioneer " Lumber
King."

217

CHAPTER XX.

FO U ND OUT.

1833-

A SOLEMN stillness pervaded the once happy
home on the hill, a stillness broken only by the
sighing of the wind through the poplar trees.

The stately, noble form of the queen of the
household, who held sway over so many hearts,
lay sleeping beneath the daisies in the cemetery
not far distant. She had never been well after
the shock occasioned by the sudden death of her
eldest son.

One by one the young people went forth to
homes of their own. Abbie, having awakened
at last to a realization of the truth of her father's
prediction regarding Thomas Brigham, had long
since married that wealthy lumberman.

In his loneliness and sorrow came a call to
the Chief to higher and harder work in his
country's service. The County of York, in
which Hull was situated, had a sufficiently large
population to entitle it to representation in the
Legislative Assembly, and, as the representation
of the Province had been increased to eighty-
218

Found Out

four members, the electors of the county were
called upon to choose their representative.

Elections in those days were not so much a
question of political opinion with the electors as
personal preference and local considerations, so
the Chief was elected by acclamation, and took
his seat in the House as an independent member>
the name of the constituency being changed to
that of Ottawa County.

The members, who in those days had not the
prospect of a large indemnity to nail them to
their seats, frequently deserted the Legislative
Hall long before the session was over, notwith-
standing which the White Chief was ever in his
place, and voted intelligently on the burning
questions of the day.

While attending session at Quebec, he sat
down to breakfast on one occasion with the son
of his old friend, Louis Joseph Papineau, who
was Speaker of the House at the time, and who
happened to be staying at the same hotel.

" I hear that a town is springing up like a
mushroom on the opposite side of the river from
Hull," said Mr. Papineau ; " and that property
on that side of the river has greatly enhanced in
value."

" It has," replied the Chief. " The whole Car-
man grant, from the Rideau to the Chaudiere,
comprising about one thousand acres, was sold
219

The White Chief of the Ottawa

to Hugh Fraser a few years ago for ten pounds.
Later a man named Burroughs bought two
hundred acres which he tried to sell to me for
sufficient to pay his passage to England, in
order to secure a legacy which had been left
him. I would not have accepted it as a gift
at that time, for it was all marsh land. He
succeeded in getting Nicholas Sparks to take it
for £9$, and I indorsed his notes for the
amount. Not long since Sparks sold eighty
acres of it to Colonel By for several thousand
pounds sterling. The Colonel drained it, divided
it into town lots, and is now asking a fabulous
price for it*

" How is the town laid out ? " asked Mr.
Papineau.

" There are a few scattered houses on a street
which has been called after the Duke of Welling-
ton, about half a dozen at Le Breton Flats, and
east of the canal there are two streets called
Sussex and Rideau, on which there are quite a
number of houses and four shops, kept by
Scotchmen. There are also two civilian bar-
racks, facing each other near Sussex Street, for
the canal workers.

" I rode over a few days ago and was aston-
ished to see the rapid progress the place is

* The same eighty acres was disposed of by Colonel
By a few years later for half a million pounds sterling.
220

Found Out

making. Crossing the wooden bridge at the
Chaudiere, which Colonel By succeeded in
building after many fruitless attempts, I drove
through Le Breton's farm to the gully recently
bridged by Lieutenant Pooley, then, skirting the
cliff on which the Episcopal church is being
erected on a lot given by Sparks, and passing the
Scotch church, I drove through the woods along
a corduroy road which wound round the foot of
Barracks Hill, or the Military Reserve, to
Sappers' Bridge, and found that the Colonel had so
transformed the lower part of the town by drain-
age as to make it beyond recognition. The swamp
and even the creek have disappeared. There is
about half a mile of unbroken forest between
the upper and lower parts of the town. The
houses are built in the midst of huge old
boulders and masses of rock, and are hidden
from each other by lofty pines and thick under-
brush."

" What is its population?" asked Mr. Papineau.

" I should say about two thousand," he replied.
" And they are mostly of the lowest class of
Irish, who are very awkward. What they are
used to doing they do fairly well, but it seems
impossible to teach them anything new. If they
can dig out for themselves a mud cabin in the
side of a hill they would never dream of building
one of wood.

221

The "White Chief of the Ottawa

" Near the works is a place called Corktown,
where the workmen have burrowed in the sand-
hills. Smoke is seen to rise out of holes which
have been opened in the ground to answer the
purpose of chimneys. In these miserable dwell-
ings whole families are huddled together worse
than in Ireland.

" McTaggart says," continued the Chief, " that
the engineers and contractors cannot get them
to keep out of the way of their own blasts, and
that he has more than once seen heads, legs and
arms blown in all directions ; and when given a
spade and pick they have to exercise eternal
vigilance to keep them from digging their own
graves."

Dr. Bigsby then took his seat at the table.

" You look as though you had been carousing,
Doctor," said Mr. Papineau.

" I was, in a way," he replied. " I remained
up most of the night to see the charivari. I
have seen it in France," he said, "but I think
the French-Canadian has improved upon the
original. In this country it is evidently intended
to reach offenders against propriety and the
public sense of honor. Ill-assorted marriages
seem to be its special objects here. You know
Adjutant Randall, do you not?" addressing
Mr. Papineau.

"Yes," he replied, "quite well."

222

Found Out

" He was married yesterday," continued the
doctor, " to the widow of a wealthy brewer. She
was of good French family, and resembled the
famous widow of Kent in having a large annual
income. She is not young, and for aught I
know may have thrown off her weeds too
soon.

" Last evening, when in my room, I heard the
most incomprehensible noises, gradually draw-
ing nearer and nearer. A broad red light soon
began to glare upon the houses and fill the
street. The throng slowly arrived and slowly
passed the door, and as you honorable gentle-
men were probably in session I shall try and
describe some parts of the show.

" First came a strange figure, masked, with a
cocked hat and sword ; then came strutting a
little humpbacked creature in brown, red and
yellow, with beak and tail. Fifteen or sixteen
people followed in the garb of Indians, some
with cow-horns on their heads. Then came
two men in white shirts, bearing a paper coffin
of great size, lighted from within and having
skulls, cross-bones and initials painted in black
on its sides. This was surrounded by men
blowing horns, beating pot-lids, poker and
tongs, whirling rattles, whistling, and so on.

"To these succeeded a number of Chinese
lanterns, some aloft on high poles and mixed
15 223

The White Chief of the Ottawa

with blazing torches, small flags, black and
white, and more rough music. Close after came
more torches, clatter and fantastic disguises, the
whole surrounded by a large rabble who kept
up an irregular fire of yells which could be
heard a mile away.

"They perambulated the whole city before
proceeding to the ill-fated mansion of the bride,
but at last they arrived at her door and drew up
before it. The large handsome house was
silent and dark — the window shades were closed.
There was evidently to be no friendly feast, for
in many cases, I believe, the attack, .is met
courteously with lighted halls and a cold colla-
tion to the principal actors, when the din and
hubbub generally ceases and the thing ends ; but
it was not so in the charivari of last night.

" The crowd was puzzled, but showed pluck.
It brayed and blew and roared and shook torch
and lantern, and might have done so all night
long, as it appeared to me, standing at a cowardly
distance, when suddenly the large front door
opened and out rushed the manly figure of the
Adjutant with ten or twelve assistants in plain
clothes (brother officers, I fear) armed with
cudgels.

"To work they went upon the defenceless
crowd, and especially among the masquers,
where the torches gave useful light. The whole
224

Found Out

attack and flight was an affair of five minutes.
The fun-loving crowd, actors and spectators,
fled, and gone in an incredibly short space of
time were torches, lanterns, coffin, kettles and
buffalo-horns.

" The unhappy little hunchback was seized
by the bridegroom, who began to pound him,
but he most piteously confessed that he was

Mr. , editor of the , a local paper. He

was dismissed with a shake, and told that in
future cripples in charivaris would be treated
as able-bodied men.

" The affair so unnerved the bride that she
escaped through the back door and took rooms
here."

Just then an officer entered, and the doctor
said :

" Good morning, Adjutant ! How is Mrs.
Randall ? "

Suddenly he caught sight of the Chief, who
sat back in his chair gazing at him in mute
astonishment, for it was none other than Harold
Wrenford.

" She is much better, thank you," he said,
"but I forgot her medicine," and he hastened
from the room.

" How long have you known the Adjutant ? "
asked the Chief.

" Only recently," replied the doctor.
225

The White Chief of the Ottawa

" I have known him for years," replied Mr.
Papineau. " I knew him when he was a young
lieutenant in the Citadel. He sold his commis-
sion, went abroad, and returned a few years ago
with his pockets full of money, purchased an
adjutancy, and he has been regarded by -the
weaker sex as one of the greatest catches in
Quebec."

In less than half an hour Adjutant and Mrs.
Randall were seen driving down towards the
docks, where they took passage in a vessel bound
for Liverpool.

226

HON. THOMAS MACKAY.

CHAPTER XXI.

A DINNER AT RIDE A U HALL IN THE
THIRTIES.

1837-

MR. AND MRS. GEORGE MORRISON and the
aged Chief were among the guests at a small
dinner party given by the " Laird of Bytown,"
the Hon. Thomas MacKay, at his new residence,
Rideau Hall, in honor of John McTaggart, C.E.,
who had returned to the New World to visit
old friends. ^

The Hall, which had been erected on his
estate of thirteen hundred acres, midway between
the banks of the Rideau and the Ottawa, was a
large cut-stone building with semi-tower front.
The building itself, the well-kept grounds, the
imposing avenues with their porters' lodges, the
conservatories, excelled anything in Canada at
that time.

It was spring. In the tall trees of the
avenues, which seemed to shut out the sky, the
birds were awaking to life and love. A little
brook gurgled over mossy stones in the quiet
glen by the wayside, on the banks of which, soft

-to 227

The White Chief of the Ottawa

with moss and pine needles, the trilliums grew
so thickly that they appeared like a bank of
snow which had escaped the rays of the April
sun.

There was great diversity of color and form in
the trees. The pines stood erect, flinging their
rough limbs above the young leaves of the
deciduous trees below. The white birch and
trembling poplar adorned the glen with pale
gray or light green leaves, whose delicacy of tint
contrasted finely with the dark masses of the
fir trees and the lively green of maple and wild
cherry.

Such was the home over which presided the
noble Laird and his gracious wife, and which,
even in those early days, was a centre of hospi-
tality.

Among the guests were Chief McNab, who
had left the Highlands of Scotland with a
numerous clan, and taken up his abode with
them in a township which had been granted to
him on the banks of Lake de Chats, about thirty
miles from Bytown.

The guests scanned him with a peculiarly
keen interest as he entered the room preceded
by his piper playing, " The Hacks o' Cromdale."
He was dressed in full Highland costume, with
kilts and scarf of red and green tartan, and wore
a queue neatly tied with a knot of ribbon.
228

Dinner at Rideau Hall in the Thirties

Captain Andrew Wilson, of Ossian Hall, on
the banks of the Rideau, was another guest. He
had retired from the Navy and posed as lawyer,
judge, farmer, and author, his title to the latter
consisting in three volumes on naval history.
He held weekly courts at Bytown, and was
regarded by the people of the town as a man of
great importance. To see the Captain on the
bench with his anchor-buttoned coat and his
old-fashioned spectacles, attending gravely to
the examination of witnesses, was ludicrous. Of
this he was perfectly sensible, but it was an
amusement to him. He was one of those men
who would have liked to have the whole world
following after him.

Rev. Mr. Cruikshanks, pastor of St. Andrews
church, the first church in Bytown, and Rev.
S. H. Stone, rector of Christ church, completed
the list of invited guests.

McTaggart, or " Mac," as he was familiarly
called, the guest of the evening and the hero of
the hour, related many amusing incidents which
had come under his notice while Clerk of the
Public Works.

" On one occasion," he said, " while returning
by steamer from Lachine, an oddly-dressed per-
son sailed along with us. He had a short-tailed
blue coat with metal buttons that once had been
clear, but the salt spray of the Atlantic Ocean
229

The White Chief of the Ottawa

had dimmed their lustre, a woollen-striped,
double-breasted waistcoat, while a pair of vel-
veteen pantaloons graced his hurdles. He was a
forward kind of little man from the south of
Scotland, who had paid little attention to the
cut of his whiskers, and the hair of his head
seemed to furnish a good cover for game of a
peculiar kind.

" The tone of my voice, or some other Scotch
keepsake, drew him near me, when the following
confab took place :

" ' I hae surely seen your face some gate afore,
mon, but whar it's mair than I can cleverly tell.'

' At the fair o' Minnyvive, man ? ' quoth I.
' Are not ye ' — there I hung fire. He helped me
out by adding :

" ' The Laird o' Birrboy.'

" ' Exactly,' I replied, and he believed or
seemed to believe me, although I had never
seen his face in my life before.

" As the steamboat neared the Lake of Two
Mountains, on the Ottawa, giving the passen-
gers a peep at the wilderness, ' What a lang
planting ! ' he exclaimed. ' I wonner wha's
Laird o't ? '

" I replied in a kind of knowing manner that

he would see the Laird presently, and shortly

we came upon an Indian encampment by the

bank of the river. The Indians were busy

230

Dinner at Rideau Hall in the Thirties

among their canoes, skinning some deer and
musjcrats they had caught.

" ' Yonder, Birrboy, yonder's the Laird ! ' quoth
I, pointing to an Indian Chief with the feathers
of wild birds stuck round in his hat, and long
silver earrings hanging down on his shoulders.

" 'Bless me ! ' said Birrboy, with open mouth,
' and yon's the Laird ? '

" ' It's all that's for him,' I continued, ' and
yonder's the gardener coming after him.' This
was another Indian with a branch of a tree on
his shoulder for the fire.

" ' Bless me ! He's a queer Laird that, and is
that ane of his seats ? '

" I explained that it was, and that he had
many such like up and down the 'lang planting.'

" ' What wad the bodies about Minnyvive
think if they saw sic lairds and gairdeners
coming up the fair as thae, mon ? ' he exclaimed.
' I'll be hanged gin they wadna creep in aneath
the beds wi' fear, like Nell Coskerie in a thunner-
storm.'

" Landing on the shore at a place called
Chute of ' Blendo,' we came upon pieces of junk
pine split up in thin pieces.

" ' An' what ca' ye thae now ? ' inquired the
Scotchman.

" ' Shingles,' I replied. ' The people of this
country cover their houses with them.'
231

The White Chief of the Ottawa

" ' Hech, mon, and are thae the Canada sclate ?'
he returned. ' Ye hae queer names for things
here. There's a shoe like a swine trough ye ca'
the saboo, then there's a shoe ye ca' the morgason,
a kin o' thing like a big splenchan the bodies row
their feet in. Deil hang me, if ever I heard o'
sic names. I'll never bring my mooth into the
wye o' pronooncing them.'

" Proceeding up the river we came near to the
public works.

" ' And is yon a timmer clauchan we see ? '
pointing to Bytown, quoth the Laird.

" ' Ay, yonder are the shanties,' I informed
him, ' of a village the people are busy building.'

" ' Ay, there again, noo,' he replied, ' What a
queer name ye hae for timmer houses.'

" I explained that the first rough house that
a settler built was called a shanty ; the next,
which was more genteel, was called a log-house ;
and the third and last was a clapboard house.

" He expressed some astonishment at this,
and wondered ' if I could recommend him to a
clout of land ony gate aboot that he could big
a bit shanty on an' tak' a blaw o' the pipe in wi'
comfort.'

" I informed him that land was by no means
scarce, and that he might get a farm for an auld
sang. ' Ay, mon,' I said, ' a farm larger than
Birrboy for an auld sang.'
232

Dinner at Rideau Hall in the Thirties

" This seemed to please him much, but he
said : ' I hae nae siller, ye see, an' what's the use
of a farm without it ? I maun e'en see to get into
the public works gaen on here and see to lay by
a triffle. I wush ye wad be sae kind as to tell me
how to act that I might find some employment '

" 'Go to the gentleman over the way,' said I,
pointing to our military commander, who was
out bustling about the works.

" ' That man with the red coat and the cocked
hat ? ' he inquired.

" ' The same,' I said, ' and say to him that
there was a man sent you to His Honor who
thought you might be worth four shillings and
sixpence a day as a squad-master of laborers.'

" He thanked me and went off and told his
story. The Colonel quickly guessed who had
sent him, so the Laird of Birrboy was regularly
installed in his situation and seemed to under-
stand his duty.

" About a month afterwards Birrboy came to
me with a long face and said I had been gude,
very gude to him, but thae was still a wee kind-
ness I could do him in a quiet way.

" ' What is it ? ' I inquired.

" ' Why the wife, silly body, is down in Mon-
treal, and as I hae a bit shanty bigged here, I wad
like tae gang doon an' bring her up, if ye had
nae objection.'

233

The White Chief of the Ottawa

" To this I replied that I would have none,
but that he must apply to the same gentleman
as formerly and see what he had to say in the
matter.'

" ' Ay, but there's that in it, I doubt he'll score
me oot o' the books when I'm awaV

" He went to the Colonel and asked the favor
to bring his wife, which of course was granted.
Off went the Laird as proud as a dog with two
tails, but when he came to the bank of the river
to the steamboat landing, the said bateau defeu,
as the French call her, had gone to the other
side of the Ottawa to take in part of her cargo.
There was no boat about but the Government
boat, in which were Colonel By with some ladies
and military officers about to take a pleasure
sail up to the Falls. This boat had pushed off,
but Birrboy waved his hat and cried :

" ' Hoot, mon, come hither ! '

" The rowers rested on their oars and he was
asked what he wanted.

" ' I want a bit cast, mon, to the ither side o'
the water to the steamboat.'

" Someone replied out of the boat that it was
impossible, as they were going on a pleasure
sail and could not be troubled with him.

" ' Hoot, mon ! ' continued the persevering
Scotchman, ' it will tak ye nought out o' yer
234

Dinner at Rideau Hall in the Thirties

wye to throw a puir body oot on the pint as ye
gae by.'

" ' Confound you,' replied the Colonel as they
pushed in the boat, ' if you are not a Scotchman
in truth I am in ignorance.'

" How joyfully did he take his seat among the
officers and ladies, smiling to himself with all
the humor of Dunscore depicted in his counten-
ance. I looked and laughed after my worthy
countryman, and have not been so fortunate
as to have seen him since."

"Tell us how you celebrated your first Christ-
mas in Canada," said Mr. MacKay.

" I well remember how I forgot to celebrate
my first Christmas in this country," replied
Mac. " We were taking a flying level * between
Rafting Bay and the Rideau — a distance 01
about four miles. Taking a level of this extent
at home would not have occupied more than a
day, but in a dark, dense wood the subject was
quite altered, and the surveyor has to change
his home system altogether ; for instance, if we
get upon a hill in Britain we may see the natural
lead of the land, but here in the wilderness you
have to grope for this like a blind man.

" We cut holes through the thickets of these

* A rough guess to a foot of the rise or fall of the country
above any fixed spot.

235

The White Chief of the Ottawa

dismal swamps, and sent a man half a mile be-
fore us to blow a horn, keeping to one place
until those in the rear come up, so that by the
compass and the sound, there being no sun, we
were able to grope out our course.

"The weather was extremely cold, and the
screws of the theodolite would scarcely move.
When night came on we sent two of the axemen
to rig a shanty by the side of a swamp. We
generally camped near a swamp, for water could
be had to drink and to cook with, and the hem-
lock boughs grew more bushy in such places,
and were easily obtained to cover the shanty ;
and, besides, we generally found dry cedar
there, which makes excellent firewood. When
we arrived at the camp we found a very com-
fortable house set up by our friends, with a
blazing fire in front of it. We lay down on
the bushy hemlock, holding pork before the
fire on wooden prongs, each man roasting for
himself, while plenty of tea was thrown into a
kettle of boiling water. The tin mug, our only
tea cup, went round till all had drunk, then it
was filled again, and so on, while each with his
bush knife cut toasted pork on slices of bread.

" Then we went to sleep, and, after having lain

an hour or so on one side, someone would cry —

' Spoon ! ' the order to turn to the other, which

was often a disagreeable one if a spike of tree

236

Dinner at Rideau Hall in the Thirties

root or such substance stuck up beneath ribs.
Reclining thus like a parcel of spoons, our feet
to the fire, we have found the hair of our
heads often frozen to the place where we lay.
For several days together did we lie in these
wild places. In Dow's great swamp, one of the
most dismal places in the wilderness, did five
Irishmen, two Englishmen, two Americans, one
Frenchman, and one Scotchman, hold their
merry Christmas in 1826, or rather forgot to
hold it at all."

" Do you remember your experiences in pro-
specting for iron ore in the mountains ? " asked
the Chief, who was one of Mac's warmest
friends and admirers.

" I had been in Canada only a few months."
he said, " when I happened to hear from various
sources that mountains of iron ore existed in
the range north of Hull, and the Chief, MacKay,
Colonel By, and I secured a guide, and took our
way on horseback through the forest to inspect
the said ore bed that had hindered the magnetic
needle of many a surveyor's compass from
traversing properly. We mounted at the
Columbian hotel and away we went, our guide
having provisions, axes, hammers, etc., in a bag
on the saddle with him. Having cantered away
several miles through cleared land, we began to
enter the wilderness, and, as I am no great
237

The White Chief of the Ottawa

horseman, I soon found my eyes and nose
beginning to be scratched off from the brush-
wood lashing and rubbing against them, and
soon, alas ! I found myself comfortably landed
on my back on the trunk of an old tree that had
fallen many years ago.

"On looking round I saw my quiet pony
thinking for a wonder what had become of me,
one of his forefeet having trod out the crown of
a good new thirty shilling hat I had bought in
London.

" My companions gathered round, but could
not prevail on me to mount again ; the guide
led the horse, and I trudged along on foot
Getting rather weary, however, and seeing the
comparatively easy manner in which my friends
got along, in spite of the thick brushwood and
old trees that lay stretched over one another at
all angles, I mounted again, but soon found it
almost impossible to follow my companions
without getting myself bruised in all quarters,
and possibly some of my bones broken.

"They had got about one hundred yards
before me, and halloed to me to follow. I
exerted myself to the utmost, but one of my
legs getting into the cleft of a small tree, I was
thrown off the horse's back and left among the
briars again. Bawling out, they waited until I
came up. None of them but Mr. MacKay, as
238

Dinner at Rideau Hall in the Thirties

good a Scotchman as lives, laughed, and I was
almost inclined to fling my boot at him. Being
a good horseman, and used to the rough roads
of Canada, he could keep his seat in the saddle
in a way, but the skin of his legs was partly
peeled like my own, and his clothes torn in
various places.

"After travelling a great way we got to a
stream which the guide said had its origin in the
iron mountain. Proceeding up the stream to its
source, we at last came upon the famous ore-
bed, but through excessive fatigue, after having
taken a little refreshment, I fell asleep, as did all
my companions but one, the enterprising Lord
of the Manor of Hull, Indian Chief, Colonel of
the 2nd Battalion, etc., etc. Even Colonel By,
with bone and muscle and sinew like wrought-
iron, who can endure anything and eat anything,
even to raw pork, was fagged out, and slept like
the rest of us.

" The Chief kindly left us undisturbed for an
hour, when he roused us. Traversing these
wild mountains in all directions, we were much
pleased with the immense specimens of iron ore
that appeared everywhere. Mr. MacKay wielded
the hammer with masonic skill, and laid the
rich ore-beds open to inspection. At one place
the mountains are not more than two miles from
the first falls of the Gatineau, where machinery
16 239

The White Chief of the Ottawa

and engines could be erected at moderate rate,
as water-power may be had to any extent from
the falls. We found an abundance of hardwood,
particularly maple, which makes the best char-
coal of any. We concluded that this was the
best place for iron works in Canada.

"We at length thought of returning to the
hotel. Night came on, and in the forenoon of
the next day I found myself alive at the Falls of
the Chaudiere. The troubles I had undergone
were amply repaid. My bruises recovered, the
skin came over my arms and legs, but I shall
never try to explore the wilds of Canada on
horseback again."

" Have you ever tried the experiment, Mr.
^cNab ? " asked the good-natured Scotchman.

" Sir," he replied, disdainfully, " I thought
you had known better. Nothing but McNab, if
you please — ' Mr.' does not belong to me."

Mr. McTaggart expressed his apologies, and
there was a lull in the conversation.

" You have quite a fine church," said the Chief,
after a time, addressing the Scottish pastor.

" Yes," he replied, " we are indebted to our
host for that church. He built it at his own
expense while the masons of the public works
were awaiting orders from the War Department
in England, to widen the locks."

" Why did you call it after St. Andrew ? " said
240

Dinner at Rideau Hall in the Thirties

the Chief. " I never could understand why
Scotchmen seem to have a monopoly of that
saint, and Episcopalians a monopoly of the
name of Christ, and Roman Catholics of St.
Peter and St. Joseph, in naming their churches.
St. Andrew was one of the least known of the
honored twelve, and why he should have gained
and retained such a grip of Scotland and her
scattered children is a mystery to me."

" There, Mr. Cruikshanks," said the Laird, " is
a problem for you to solve, for I must admit it
is a question beyond my ken."

"The only reason that I can find why St.
Andrew is so closely connected with Scotland,"
replied Mr. Cruikshanks, whose speech was not
a little infected with the dialect of southern
Scotland, but is here rendered in modern Eng-
lish for the sake of the readers, "is found in
most ancient history — it may be legendary. It
is this :

" Faithful to the farewell commission of his
Master, whom he saw ascend from the brow of
Olivet and received into heaven, Andrew spent
his missionary life in Scythia and Achaia, and
in Patrae, one of its principal cities, he founded
a branch of the Church, the success of which
brought down upon him the vengeance of the
heathen governor, who caused him to be crucified.
He was tied to a cross of olive wood in the form of
241

The White Chief of the Ottawa

the letter X. He endured the prolonged agonies
of hunger and thirst and pain for many days,
until at last the strong heart gave its last beat
and his spirit fled to the side of the glorified
Christ.

" A woman of wealth and rank obtained pos-
session of the body. The congregation with
sorrowing hearts buried it in the little church.
There it lay in undisturbed repose during the
long stretch of three hundred years.

"Wholesale massacres swept myriads of
Christians into martyr graves until a Christian
emperor came to the throne, who ordered a
great and gorgeous temple to be erected in
memory of the apostle in Constantinople.

" Constantine commanded the presiding pres-
byter"—

" Bishop, you mean," interrupted the rector.

" Presbyter, sir," said the Scotchman, firmly,
" of the little church at Petrae to deliver up the
body of the martyred apostle that it might rest
till the glorious resurrection morn in the
grandest mausoleum that Imperial hands could
build for it.

" Three days before the messengers arrived,
Regulus, the presbyter, dreamed that a messen-
ger from a greater than Constantine ordered
him to open the tomb of the saint and to remove
part of its contents and hide them in another
242

Dinner at Rideau Hall in the Thirties

place. This he did, and the remainder of the
body was removed to Constantinople.

" Some time afterwards Regulus had another
dream, when the same messenger appeared to
him and warned him to depart from Petrae, and
to take with him the bones which he had con-
cealed and to sail to a port to which God would
safely guide him.

" Regulus obeyed, and was accompanied by
sixteen presbyters and three devout deacon-
esses, who set sail not knowing whither to
steer their course.

"Tossed up and down in Adria, driven by
the wind through the dreaded pillars of Hercules,
dashed hither and thither in the surging Bay of
Biscay, whirled northward by furious hurricanes
over the English Channel and the German
Ocean, they found themselves shipwrecked in a
bay, afterwards known as the Bay of St.
Andrews, on the east of Scotland. All else but
the precious relics lost, they with difficulty
gained the shore.

" On the spot where they landed they built a
church, taking for their plan the church at
Petr;E, and in it they reverently deposited the
martyr's bones and called the church and place
St. Andrews.

" Dense woods surrounded them, infested with
boars and wolves. The barbarians extended to
243

The White Chief of the Ottawa

them a hearty welcome. Regulus, afterwards
known in Scottish history as St. Raol, told
them of St. Andrew and of his faith in the
incarnate God who had come to seek and to
save the lost They listened and believed, and
Hangus, the King, with all his subjects shook
off Druidical superstition and became Christian,
and from St. Andrews streamed through the
dark places of the land the true light of the
world — the Gospel of Christ as St. Andrew had
learned it from the Master himself.

" That, sir," he said, addressing the Chief, " is
the reason why we have named the new kirk
St. Andrews."

" Interesting — most interesting," said the
Laird, who had moved back from the table and
sat clasping his right knee with his hands.
" The learned son of Auld Scotia has answered
the first part of the Chiefs question, and we
shall look to the rector to explain why the
Episcopalians seem to enjoy a monopoly of the
name of ' Christ church ' in designating their
places of worship."

For a moment the cultured young English-
man looked bewildered and confused, for the
question had come to him suddenly and unex-
pectedly. Closing his eyes he repeated the
question slowly and thoughtfully, " Why do
244

Dinner at Rideau Hall in the Thirties

churchmen like to confer upon their places of
worship the name of Christ ? "

" There passes before my mind the vision of a
world," he said, still keeping his eyes closed,
" which came from the hands of the Creator in
a state of perfection and loveliness — a world of
spotless purity, a world where all was peace and
love, and joy and satisfaction — a heaven of bliss
and of ecstasy. A dark shadow crept over it —
the shadow of sin — which was soon followed by
the darker and more awful shadow of death.
Its women wre subjected to a life of suffering
and sorrow, a life of bondage and tyranny ; its
men to a life of slavery. The whole creation
began to groan and travail in pain. Life was
not worth living nor death worth dying, until a
Light from heaven shone through the darkness,
dispelling the gloom, bringing salvation to sor-
rowing, sin-burdened souls and hope of complete
redemption, when the body shall be raised in-
corruptible, when the briars and thorns shall
disappear, and even the animals shall be emanci-
pated from the bondage and cruelty of man.

" It was the Christ who turned darkness into
light. It was the Christ who brought life out
of death. It was the Christ who lifted woman
from the depths of degradation and placed her
in a realm of love and hope. It was the Christ
who gave the weary toiler rest.
245

The White Chief of the Ottawa

" Have we not cause to bless God for ' His in-
estimable love in the redemption of the world
by our Lord Jesus Christ ? ' '

" That is Presbyterianism," said Mrs. MacKay.

" And that is Episcopalianism," replied the
rector.

" We recognize the Christ as the head of the
Church," said the Laird.

"And so do we," said the rector, "and if I had
the naming of ten thousand churches, sir, I
would call each one ' Christ church,' and I would
have a cross on each somewhere to remind the
people of the fact that He left the heaven of
glory to suffer and die for them, that He might
bring them into the fulness of joy which He
originally designed for them."

" You surprise me," said the Laird, " for I had
come to regard the Established Church of
England as dead in formalism. I have not
found so great faith before — no, not in the
Church of England."

" Then you had better become a little more
intimately acquainted with it," good-naturedly
rejoined the young rector, and the conversation
turned into other topics.

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CHAPTER XXII.

LIGHT AT EVENTIDE.

1839.

SPRING had come. The aged Chief, who had
passed the seventy-ninth anniversary of his
birth, sat propped up with pillows gazing at the
swollen torrent, with its seething, tumbling mass
of white foam, as it rushed with resistless power
into the big cauldron below.

Through the half-open window the fragrance
of blossoming fruit-trees found its way into the
room. From the eastern window he could see the
smoke rising from his innumerable factories and
mills; through the southern one the burnished
roofs and steeples of the opposite cliffs sparkled
and glittered in the sunshine.

As he gazed thoughtfully at the panorama
before him, he said to Chrissy, who with her
husband had carefully nursed him for five years
while suffering with a broken thigh, occasioned
by a fall on the pavement near the St. Louis
gate at Quebec :

" It makes one think of time as it rolls on like
a mighty rushing river soon to lose itself in the
vast sea of eternity."

247

The White Chief of the Ottawa

Chrissy sat by his bedside reading, and seemed
oblivious to the remark. At length, looking up
from the book with a face beaming with satis-
faction, she said :

" Do you know what the Surveyor-General
says of you, father? I have just been reading a
marked copy of his Topographical Report to
William IV., which Mr. Papineau has sent, and
in which he says, after describing the advanced
stage of civilization found in our township :

" ' From whence are all these benefits derived ?
Whose persevering talent and enterprising spirit
first pierced the gloom of these forests and con-
verted a wilderness of trees into fields of corn ?
Whose industrious hand first threw into the
natural desert the seeds of plenty and prosperity?

" ' The answer is — Mr. Philemon * Wright.
Through hardships, privations, and dangers that
would have appalled an ordinary mind, he pene-
trated an almost inaccessible country, and where
he found desolation and solitude he introduced
civilization and the useful arts, and by his almost
unaided skill and indefatigable industry the
savage paths of a dreary wilderness have been
changed into the cheerful haunts of men. The
gloomy upland forests have given way to smiling
corn-fields. The wet and wild savannas, sinking
under stunted spruce and cedar, have been
cleared and drained into luxuriant meadows.
248

Light at Eventide

The perilous water-fall, whose hoarse noise was
once the frightful voice of an awful solitude, is
rendered obedient to the laWs of art, and now
converts the majestic tenants of the forest into
the habitations of man and grinds his food. The
rivers and lakes, once fruitful in vain, now breed
their living produce for the use of human beings,
and with deep, rapid current transport on their
smooth glassy surface the fruits of his industry.
The deep recesses of the earth are made to
expose their mineral treasures from the birth-
day of time concealed.

"' In short, the judicious and persevering in-
dustry of one successful adventurer has convert-
ed all the rude vantages of primeval nature into
the germs of agricultural, manufacturing and
commercial prosperity.'

" It is true," she said, with great enthusiasm.
" They may well appreciate the great work you
have done."

The tribute of praise seemed to make no im-
pression on the Chief, who sat silent and motion-
less, as though lost in thought.

" Shall I read to you, father, dear ? "

" You may if you like," he said.

" What would you like me to read ? " she asked.

" Read something that Solomon has written,"
said the Chief, who was a grand Arch Mason
and Knight of Malta, and who was not very
249

The White Chief of the Ottawa

familiar with the writings of Solomon or any of
the writers of Scripture.

Turning over the leaves of her well-worn
Bible, Chrissy read from the second chapter of
Ecclesiastes the following words :

" I made me great works ; I builded me
houses ; I planted me vineyards ; I made me
gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in
them of all kind of fruits ; I made me pools
of water, to water therewith the wood that
bringeth forth trees ; I got me servants and
maidens, . . . also I had great possessions of
great and small cattle ; . . . I gathered me also
silver and gold, . . . so I was great, and increased
more than all that were before me ; . . . also
my wisdom remained with me. And what-
soever mine eyes desired I kept not from them,
I withheld not my heart from any joy ; for my
heart rejoiced in my labour. . . . Then I looked
on all the works that my hands had wrought,
and on the labour that I had laboured to do ; and,
behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit,
and there was no profit under the sun."

The Chief gave a deep groan which caused
Chrissy to close the book hurriedly. Taking
his hand gently in hers, she said :
(} >j" I fear that I have wearied you, or is it the
old pain again ? "

" It is true ! it is true ! " he said. " When I look
250

Light at Eventide

back over the past achievements of my life they
are of no profit when viewed in the light of
eternity. The sun that has lighted our way,
dear child, is going down in a cloud — a dark,
dark cloud ! "

" Why is that, dear father ? Have you not
lived up to the family motto — Mens conscia rectit
Have you not always followed the dictates of
conscience ? "

" Yes," he replied.

" Have you kept every command in the
decalogue ? "

"Yes," he said, confidently.

" And have you loved the Lord God with all
your mind and with all your strength, and your
neighbor as yourself? Have you always put
God first in everything?"

Here the aged Chief hesitated. Tears were
in his eyes, his h'ind trembled, a look of pain
came into his face, as he replied :

" No, Chrissy, I have not."

" Then you have broken the first and greatest
command of God," she said, " and St. Paul has
said : ' Condemned is every one that continues
not in all things which are written in the book
of the law to do them.' If dark clouds are over-
shadowing you, dear father, may it not be be-
cause you have broken the law of God and are
under His condemnation ?"
251

The White Chief of the Ottawa

" I had hoped for comfort from you," he said,
coldly, " but you have made me miserably un-
happy."

" Wait," said Chrissy. " This is the comfort-
ing thing about it all. It says here in Galatians :
' Christ hath redeemed us from the condemna-
tion of the law, having been condemned for us.' "

" Then if He paid the penalty of the faults
and failures of my life, I suppose I should have
no anxious thought about the future."

" Quite so," said Chrissy.

" I never saw it in that light before," he said.
" Why did you not tell me this before, child ? "

" Because," she replied, " I feared that you
would scoff at my ' Quakerism,' as the boys call
it."

In the few short weeks that followed, con-
fidence and hope rose triumphant over physical
weakness and mental depression, and on the
second of June, 1839, the White Chief of the
Ottawa passed through " the valley of the
shadow." To him it was not a dark valley,
however, for shadows cannot be seen in the dark.
The Light of the World, whom he had lost sight
of for the best part of his life, was there, and all
was peace.

THE END.

252

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